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?

  • Frellwit@lemmy.world
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    2 hours 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.

  • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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    7 hours 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
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          6 hours 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.

          • OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
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            2 hours ago

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

          • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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            5 hours 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.

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.social
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    10 hours ago

    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.

  • jesale@lemmy.zip
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    11 hours ago

    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.

    • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      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 Software Update 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.

      • Aequitas@feddit.orgOP
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        10 hours ago

        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?

        • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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          10 hours ago

          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.

          • Aequitas@feddit.orgOP
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            7 hours ago

            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.