Which kernel to use with older hardware?

[whatthe]

Hi all

I am using older hardware (Lenovo 2011) with Manjaro because I am used to this laptop and I love it and still works fine, and I prefer it over my newer laptop (2021) which only collects dust on the shelve.

Now I read somewhere that newer kernels are not always preferred with older hardware.

@linux-aarhus

It is well-known that the latest is not always the greatest - epecially when running on 10y old hardware.

This major update installed kernel 6.1.1-1

It helps to have always 2 kernels (one of them LTS)

I am running kernel 6.6 LTS, should I revert back to kernel 5.15 LTS just to be safe?

[andreas85]

@whatthe

Now I read somewhere that newer kernels are not always preferred with older hardware.

But if they work without problems there is no reason to go back

Only to have a second kernel to boot if something goes wrong (with some kernel update) you could install 6.6 and 6.1 (both LTS)

[whatthe]

yeah I have 6.6 LTS and 5.15 LTS already installed

[andreas85]

And sometimes newer kernels have additional features.

So Kernel since 6.1 support faster btrfs send and receive, and kernel since 6.7 support better tree-checks with btrfs and a little improved speed.

[anon6547204]

I am running Kernel 6.6 on a 12 year old i5 2500K without any problems.

[whatthe]

Yeah me too! i5-2520M CPU

[nikgnomic]

I have an Acer laptop from 2008 - Pentium T2330 / 1.6 GHz CPU; 2 GB RAM and an SSD instead of original 5400rpm HDD

Installed latest Manjaro Xfce ISO with kernel 6.6 and systemd-analyze reports:

Startup finished in 7.093s (kernel) + 11.695s (userspace) = 18.788s 
graphical.target reached after 11.692s in userspace.

So there is still life in the old dog yet

[linux-aarhus]

Your reference is out of context.

@linux-aarhus

It is well-known that the latest is not always the greatest - epecially when running on 10y old hardware.

The correct context is hardware for which kernel modules has been removed.

If your system is able to function and provides a stable experience with the latest LTS there is no reason why you should use an older LTS.

[bedna]

I just installed Manjaro xfce on a HP G62 laptop from 2010, kernel 66 worked perfectly.
If it works it works, but it is never a bad idea to have 2 kernels so in case the newest one does not work, you have an older one to fall back to if needed.

[weingeist]

Kernel 6.6 @ i980X from 2010 with KDE

Startup finished in 1.559s (kernel) + 2.663s (initrd) + 2.508s (userspace) = 6.732s 
graphical.target reached after 2.348s in userspace.

[linuxmanr4]

I use kernel version 5.4.

Higher versions cause me problems with virtualbox or with the video card.

I eventually found the right kernel for me, through a process of trial and error.

[soundofthunder]

I had Manjaro running nicely on a 15 year old Gigabyte board. It (the mainboard) died, but the kernel was likely still perfectly fine.