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I'm using Kubuntu 22.04

What are the differences between the kernel images?

I see that there are:

  • linux-image-5.15.0-48-generic (linux-image-generic)
  • linux-image-5.15.0-48-lowlatency (linux-image-lowlatency)
  • linux-image-generic-hwe-22.04 (linux-image-generic + linux-modules-extra)

What are the relative use cases? Where can I find some documentation?

Mirto Busico
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    You're mixing several questions. As you can see, low latency kernel is a chapter of its own. HWE is the "Hardware enablement kernel", which includes a newer kernel version altogether. And the combination of the two exist as well (linux-image-lowlatency-hwe-22.04). – Artur Meinild Sep 12 '22 at 09:06
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    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack provides documentation on HWE (hardware enablement stack) – guiverc Sep 12 '22 at 09:36

1 Answers1

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  • "generic" is your standard Ubuntu kernel.
  • "lowlatency" is a kernel optimized to minimize latency (delays) when working with audio - use this if you are intensively working with audio (this is the kernel used in Ubuntu Studio).
  • "hwe" is a metapackage designed for the Ubuntu long term releases. "hwe" stands for "Hardware enablement". Installing this package will update the kernel for LTS releases to newer versions, so LTS releases continue to support recent hardware. Since Ubuntu 20.04, HWE is enabled by default for any fresh installs. This is applicable only for Ubuntu LTS releases, not for the interim releases (e.g. forthcoming 22.10, 23.04, etc.)

Information from Canonical, the company supporting Ubuntu is available at https://ubuntu.com/kernel.

vanadium
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