Ubuntu

Upgrading Ubuntu Kernal Versions

Asked by Ivan Ratoyevsky

Hello,
I keep reading about newer or revised versions of the Linux kernel. My question is:- Is there any advantage in upgrading from one Linux kernel version to a newer one? I'm assuming this is somewhat similar to upgrading a system bios version. I am currently running Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) but I'm not sure which kernel version I have and weather this is the newest or if its worth upgrading versions.

**YES! OK if it ain't broken don't fix it, sure. I'm just curious about this subject. I'm not sure I want to actually try the upgrade of the versions myself. I'd just like to know and understand a little more about this.

Many Thanks Ivan

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samuel (samuel-h) said : 		#1

It's not like upgrading your BIOS, there is a lot less potential for it to go wrong. However it is worth doing, as the kernel is what communicates with the hardware, and prevents applications from doing what they shouldn't. It ussually gets updated to fix a securtity fault. However, you don't need to do anything, the update manager program will autimatically update the kernel when it needs to be in the same way it updates your software. To see if there is a new one available start update manager, and look at the list of updates. To find out what version you're running type uname -a into a terminal (ctrl+alt+t) and press enter. You will get an output that looks like this: Linux computer-name kernel version-generic #64-Ubuntu SMP time 32 bit or 64 bit GNU/Linux.
Obviously the kernel version bit, is your kernel version.

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