My kernel version is ‘6.8.0-87-generic’ and hers is ‘6.14.00-33-generic’. My brother, who uses CachyOS, has kernel version ‘6.17.1-2-cachyos’. So it makes a little sense that the kernel is different. Even though I always thought that there was just one kernel that all Linux versions use.
But why is there a different kernel for the same distro?
Mint has two kernels: a “stable” one and a “hardware enhanced” one (HWE). The HWE kernel is newer to improve support for newer hardware.
Many distros allow you to pick from multiple kernels.
Yes, all Linux kernels come from kernel.org
That said, kernel.org maintains not only a latest but also multiple “stable” kernels that maintained versions of previous kernels. There are usually about a half-dozen kernel versions to choose from.
One you have code from kernel.org, you can change the configuration to get kernels with slightly different capabilities and strengths.
Finally, you can patch the code you get from kernel.org to add or remove whatever you want. For example, you may add in filesystem support or drivers missing in the mainline kernel.
So, in the end, any given Linux distro may have a Linux kernel slightly different from what other distros use. You can probably run any Linux distro on the kernel from any other Linux distro though. In fact, this is what you are doing when you run something like Docker or Kubernetes.
Your family sounds 1337.
Haha, my brother, our IT guy, has made it his mission to wipe out Windows in our family.
That depends on the install date. If you installed Mint 22 when it was released you’re not on the HWE kernel. If you install a later version of Mint based on Ubuntu 24.04.2 or later you’ll get the HWE kernel which auto-updates to newer versions during the lifetime of the distro.
Go into update manager top left find Linux kernels and select the kernel you’d like to have. I recommend the latest 6.14 too release. Select and install then restart and your good to go!
Thank you!
Did you get it? As in you fixed the issue?
It wasn’t really a big issue, but it was confusing. I thought that with the same Linux distro version, the highest kernel version offered would also be the same. But upgrading the kernel to a higher version (6.8 to 6.14), rather than just updating it (6.8.0-85 to 6.8.0-87 in my case), doesn’t work via the standard update management UI; you have to go to ‘View’ -> ‘Linux Kernel’.
I have now upgraded to version 6.14 and everything is running smoothly.
Different distros do it differently.
For OpenSUSE it always presents you the latest kernel during updates, and keeps an old version as backup should your system fail to boot on new kernel.Glad to help. And also glad you filled in the blanks I was forgetting! Best of luck. Mint and LMDE is great.
does upgrading it thru apt work?
If you’re running the exact same version, just do an
apt updateand then see if upgrade packages show up.I don’t know if they still do it, but Mint used to do staggered updates (through their update manager) for some packages. They would start out making the update only available for, say, 10% of people and then slowly built up to 100% if no issues were discovered.
This also relieves download pressure on their servers
i think there was also a note in the 22.2 release notes about compatability with nvidia cards too
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This is the elite ball knowledge I need
I believe 6.14 is somewhat recent, so it might be just a matter of when each installation file was obtained. I recommend upgrading your 6.8 installation with a fresh download from your preferred source and a full reinstall. Extra recommendations: subscribe to some Linux newsletter to stay informed on future releases.
I believe 6.14 is somewhat recent, so it might be just a matter of when each installation file was obtained.
Yeah. If you upgraded to Mint 22.2 from 22.1, you will still be on kernel 6.8. But I believe if you installed via a full install directly to 22.2, you will be on kernel 6.14.
I recommend upgrading your 6.8 installation with a fresh download from your preferred source and a full reinstall.
You can upgrade the Mint kernel to 6.14 via
SoftwareUpdate Manager > View > Linux Kernels. No full reinstall required.Though, OP, unless there is a specific reason to change it or you just like doing so, I would leave it alone: don’t fix things that aren’t broken.
Oh, I see. From time to time, the update manager suggests kernel updates to me. But I seem to be in the 6.8 series, while she is in the 6.14 series. However, in the update manager, I can upgrade to the 6.14 series using the way you suggested. Is that a good idea?
Is that a good idea?
I did it on one of my computers as I wanted a feature that was in 6.14. It didn’t cause any issues, nor should it. I believe the disto maintainer is simply being cautious and not having people auto-upgrade kernels as part of minor version upgrades.
Thank you! And it was exactly as you described: I upgraded from 22.1 to 22.2 and she downloaded version 22.2 straight away.
I think you might be replying to a bot
