this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Should I switch from the older OEM kernel to the newer generic kernel? (lemm.ee)
submitted 1 year ago by xavier666@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I am using a Dell Latitude 3420 (Ubuntu 22.04.3) and it uses a slightly older OEM kernel 5.14.0-1048-oem. The generic kernels keep getting upgraded but are never used. The current generic that I have is 6.2.0-26-generic and 5.15.0-79-generic.

So I have 2 questions

  1. Should I leave the kernel as it is? Some threads online say it's better to leave it as it is as an OEM kernel is better for Ubuntu-certified laptops
  2. If I should change the kernel, what would be the best way? I don't want to hard-code the kernel version.
    • If I have issues in the latest generic kernel, I should be able to roll-back to the OEM kernel.

Related links

  1. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1395080/which-kernel-should-i-use-for-my-hardware-oem-or-generic
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/XPS/comments/rif7wo/ubuntu_after_installation_oem_kernel_instead_of/
  3. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1387979/removing-a-oem-installed-kernel
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[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/OEMKernel

Unless you know that you need/want features/fixes not (yet) part of the OEM kernel you should stay with that.

You can go with generic, build your own, or even go for the mainline kernel. But you might find some hardware not supported.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was going through the wiki and found this line

The OEM kernel is also called the OEM staging kernel, because the delta in OEM kernel should all be merged to the generic kernel in the next Ubuntu release, so it is essentially a staging code base.

Since the latest kernel SHOULD have all the hardware-specific commits of the OEM, right?

[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

My details on how canonical handle their kernels are very limited. I’m no Ubuntu fan, I just manage Ubuntu servers.

You can check the delta here: https://staging.kernel.ubuntu.com/oem-delta/

[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 5 points 1 year ago

Are there specific bugs vulnerabilities in your current kernel that you want to avoid? There usually isn't much to gain by upgrading kernels, unless you have unsupported hardware or a kernel vulnerability. And if your lucky, the OEM kernel should have bug fixes backported to it anyway.

If you have the generic kernels installed, you should be able to boot them from GRUB/bootloader, try it and see if it all still works?

[–] Delta_44@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should, you're missing out on a lot of fixes, performance improvements (and energy improvement) and filesystem improvements.

Don't listen to who says "it's only security stuff". Better hardware support, everyone?

Upgrade and if you have a problem you can always go back to an older one.

[–] xavier666@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I have switched to it (but temporarily). So far, no issues but I'm keeping the OEM kernel just in case.

[–] mrvictory1@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Hold shift and spacebar on boot (idk which one) and pick a different kernel.