Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) is one of the most popular and long-term supported Linux distributions. Released on April 21, 2022, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS shipped with the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel series, which offers stability, security, and compatibility with a wide range of hardware.
However, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS users who want to take advantage of the latest Linux kernel features and improvements now have the option to upgrade to version 6.5, thanks to the Hardware Enablement (HWE) mechanism.
The Linux 6.5 kernel is the default kernel for Ubuntu 23.10 (Mantic Minotaur), the most recent version of Ubuntu released on October 14, 2023. This kernel introduces some interesting new features, including:
– Support for WiFi 7, the next generation wireless standard that promises speeds of up to 30 Gbps, greater energy efficiency and security.
– Support for MIDI 2.0 in ALSA, Linux’s low-level audio system, allowing for greater expressiveness and interoperability between digital music devices.
– ACPI support for the RISC-V architecture, an open source and scalable platform for processors, which allows for better energy and hardware management.
– Landlock support for UML (User Mode Linux), a technique that allows instances of Linux to run as user processes, which offers greater security and isolation.
– AMD “Zen” system improvements, which include support for the overclocking, monitoring and power saving features of Ryzen processors.
To upgrade Ubuntu 22.04 LTS kernel to Linux 6.5, users need to run the command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade
in the Terminal app. This update will also be available in the phased release of Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, scheduled for February 22, 2024.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS will receive security updates until October 2026, but will be replaced by Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) on April 25, 2024. Users who want to stay up to date with the latest Ubuntu releases can follow the official blog or YouTube channel of distribution.