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#1 2010-08-28 05:14:49

wolfspaw
Member
Registered: 2010-08-28
Posts: 15

[Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

Hi Archers, im very newbie in linux and after some time(using Ubuntu) Arch got my attention ( i loved the community, documentation , ideias and feel of it!) so im installing it tonigth.

My doubt is: tempted to living in the bleeding edge im thinking in upgrade the kernel for the latest one. But since im a newbie, i don't know if it's a common Archers practice or
if it's a bad ideia to update the kernel.

So, is it better to use the kernel that comes with Arch or the latest kernel can be a good ideia ?

Sorry if it is a silly question.

Last edited by wolfspaw (2010-08-28 16:55:53)

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#2 2010-08-28 05:37:54

splittercode
Member
From: WI, USA
Registered: 2010-03-16
Posts: 203

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

Ask yourself this, what do you need that the stock arch kernel doesn't provide?  If you can't answer that question, then there is no real reason to, especially if you're new to linux.  There is a lot to be learned before mucking about with your kernel will provide any benefits, let alone make any sense.   I even use the LTS kernel(which is still at 2.6.32), and being just a normal end user I notice no difference.

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#3 2010-08-28 05:48:02

fsckd
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2009-06-15
Posts: 4,173

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

stock arch kernel is fairly close to bleeding edge

i suggest you learn about AUR

bear in mind, while arch kernels do go through testing, you may still see pretty bad bugs


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#4 2010-08-28 06:04:29

Doehni
Member
From: Germany
Registered: 2007-05-19
Posts: 175

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

I have the stock arch kernel in use, but also the lts kernel installed. Just to have another kernel when stock should fail (which it never did).

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#5 2010-08-28 06:21:02

barzam
Member
From: Sweden
Registered: 2009-01-27
Posts: 277

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

It's good practice to always update everything
# pacman -Syu

If you are afraid of stuff breaking you can install the lts-kernel and use it as backup.
# pacman -S kernel26-lts

Remember you need to edit Grub's menu.lst as well.

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#6 2010-08-28 15:42:11

mcmillan
Member
Registered: 2006-04-06
Posts: 737

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

I've generally not had any serious problems upgrading the kernel.  I don't think I've had any issues that left me with an unbootable system, so I could always downgrade from the package cache. Though a fair warning, right now I'm running into this problem and am running the kernel2-2.6.34.3

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#7 2010-08-28 15:56:02

graysky
Wiki Maintainer
From: :wq
Registered: 2008-12-01
Posts: 10,595
Website

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

You're fine to let the kernel update with the rest of your system.  Arch does NOT use beta or unstable kernels; only officially released versions are first tested, then released to the main repos.  It's not like you're using a daily git compiled kernel...


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#8 2010-08-28 16:55:36

wolfspaw
Member
Registered: 2010-08-28
Posts: 15

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

Thanks for all the answers!

I'll use the lts backup method and experiment the latest kernel.

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#9 2010-08-28 16:57:11

ozar
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2005-02-18
Posts: 1,686

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

wolfspaw wrote:

since im a newbie, i don't know if it's a common Archers practice or
if it's a bad ideia to update the kernel.

So, is it better to use the kernel that comes with Arch or the latest kernel can be a good ideia ?

Welcome to the forums and to Arch!

I usually check the front page of the Arch site and the Arch forums before doing any major upgrades such as major kernel releases, complete Gnome or KDE desktop, etc, to see if others that have hardware the same as mine are having any big problems, and if so, I wait a few days for the problems to be fixed.  Otherwise, I go forward with the upgrades and keep my system as current as are the Arch mirrors.


oz

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#10 2010-08-28 16:59:13

wolfspaw
Member
Registered: 2010-08-28
Posts: 15

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

Ah, im researching to see if there are any regressions related to my hardware. Thanks!

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#11 2010-08-28 17:00:25

.:B:.
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2006-11-26
Posts: 5,819
Website

Re: [Solved]Is it wise to upgrade the kernel?

The easiest way is installing the new kernel and making sure you have the old one in your pacman cache tongue.


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