When to update to a new Linux kernel

[smurphos]

Will your 2011-released computer be able to run smoothly on the 2022-released LM 21 or 2024-released LM 22.?
Will your 2006-released computer be able to run smoothly on the 2020-released LM 20 or 2022-released LM 21.?

I don't know, I'm not psychic, but the point is both machines work fine on kernels your original post implied were unsuitable for such venerable museum pieces.

[Gualicho32]

I'm using LM 18, but I don't believe I have this "Time Shift" app installed on my system.

[smurphos]

It should be available in the repo for all supported Mint versions now - it is preinstalled in 18.3 and above.

apt install timeshift

[thx-1138]

...3.13 had 13 million lines of code, and 4.15 about 20 million plus.
Not really that much a matter of 'older' vs 'newer', but a matter of massive amount of changes:
1 single line change might fail your devices recognition, graphics,
be the source of latter filesystem corruption, lock your bios, whatever - even within the same series revision.

...dmesg / journalctl is there for you to spot 'obvious' warnings & potential failures, regardless of the age.

[rbsudo]

Yes, I just checked my old Dell Inspiron 531, running LM 18.3 w/ Cinnamon 64-bit, and Timeshift is pre-installed there. Linux Kernel 4.10.03-38-generic is installed. I just initiated it for the first time and doing the first Create right now. Thank you all.... I appreciate all the posts so far.

[AZgl1800]

Thank you both.... great suggestions. Have any of you, or anyone else here, ever tried to roll back, and what has been your experience..... was it a smooth thing or did it create problems like the warnings say?

I for one, am a great advocate of Timeshift.
I use it extensively by doing Manual Backups and then labeling them so I know what that particular update contains. And, I have never, ever, had a problem with using it to backup to a previous point in time

I have Daily updates scheduled to keep 5 copies.

Every time, that I am going to install something new, I make a Timeshift backup with the label Prior to CrazyAppToTest
That allows me to backup instantly to a point in time that CrazyApp was not on the PC.....
if after a length of time goes by, and CrazyApp proves to be okay, I make a new Manual Backup stating it is okay, usually like this Everything working perfect, no problems

Timeshift3.png

Just as a FYI, I place the Timeshift backups on a dedicated partition used only for backups.

[Moem]

Mod note:
The question by Gualicho32 is now here. As always, a new question deserves a new topic.

[Schultz]

rbsudo wrote:
Yes, I just checked my old Dell Inspiron 531, running LM 18.3 w/ Cinnamon 64-bit, and Timeshift is pre-installed there. Linux Kernel 4.10.03-38-generic is installed.

Just so you know, kernel series 4.10 reached its end-of-life 8 months ago.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Support? ... hedule.svg

[michael louwe]

I don't know, I'm not psychic, but the point is both machines work fine on kernels your original post implied were unsuitable for such venerable museum pieces.

.
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=280658 - LM 19 Cinnamon(= kernel 4.15) could not be installed on the 2010-released Dell Inspiron N4010 laptop(= 8 year old computer)

[thx-1138]

...and how do you conclude that it was the 4.15 kernel to be blamed? All that this person said was:

I click on the desktop icon that says "install linux mint"--AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS.
Huh? Then how did it boot to the desktop successfully?

If nothing else, that tells that at least the 4.15 kernel loaded just fine. Kernel ≠ Ubiquity...

[michael louwe]

...and how do you conclude that it was the 4.15 kernel to be blamed? All that this person said was:

I click on the desktop icon that says "install linux mint"--AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS.
Huh? Then how did it boot to the desktop successfully?

If nothing else, that tells that at least the 4.15 kernel loaded just fine. Kernel ≠ Ubiquity...

.

Thanks for suggestions.... Turns out that linuxmint-19-cinnamon-64bit-v2 is somehow not compatible with my old Dell. I tried the installation DVD in a newer laptop and got it to work in compatibility mode. So, I guess I'll try a lighter weight distro on the older machine.

[thx-1138]

...what a square logic. And again...linuxmint-19-cinnamon-64bit-v2 ≠ 4.15 kernel.
Actually, v1 could not even install in the first place on numerous systems -
didn't meant it was necessary the newer kernel to be blamed.

How many times someone couldn't get a specific distro's .iso to install,
but a different distro (coming with a newer kernel as well) worked just fine?
How many times someone couldn't get a newer version of the distro of his/her choice to install via the .iso,
but manually upgrading the packages did the trick?

Bugs & glitches do exist, sure - and a newer kernel might complicate things further as well,
but there is no one-to-one correlation like "newer kernel = newer machine only".

...the fact that the person above highlighted in bold letters that...
"AND ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS", merely suggests that Ubiquity didn't worked,
maybe it's gui couldn't load, maybe it silently crashed in the background...
he / she was never asked to run such from the terminal to see what errors got returned if any.

[rbsudo]

Just so you know, kernel series 4.10 reached its end-of-life 8 months ago.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Support? ... hedule.svg

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

I went back to the old Dell Inspiron 531 desktop (ca 2007) running LM 18.3, and via Update Manager, installed Kernel 4.15 to see what would happen...... Cinnamon crashed.
So I returned, using Timeshift, which btw worked perfectly, to 4.10.
Then I proceeded to install 4.13 and that has been running fine ever since.

[michael louwe]

Then I proceeded to install 4.13 and that has been running fine ever since.

.
You should be running Linux kernel 4.4 which is LTS, ie supported by Ubuntu until April 2021. Kernel 4.13 should be nearing EOL or already EOL, ie no longer supported by Ubuntu.

[Schultz]

michael louwe wrote:
You should be running Linux kernel 4.4 which is LTS, ie supported by Ubuntu until April 2021. Kernel 4.13 should be nearing EOL or already EOL, ie no longer supported by Ubuntu.

Kernel 4.13 reached end-of-life as of August 2018, so I second the idea that kernel 4.4 should be used.

[rbsudo]

Linux 4.4 installed and active. Thanks again.