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?

  • LeFantome@programming.dev
    4·
    6 days ago

    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.

  • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
    10·
    8 days ago

    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!

        • Aequitas@feddit.orgOP
          5·
          8 days ago

          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.

          • BCsven@lemmy.ca
            2·
            8 days ago

            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.

          • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
            2·
            8 days ago

            Glad to help. And also glad you filled in the blanks I was forgetting! Best of luck. Mint and LMDE is great.

  • Frellwit@lemmy.world
    7·
    8 days ago

    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.