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Once again, users of the Ubuntu-based Linux Lite distribution are the first to install and try the newest Linux kernel release, in this case Linux 5.10 LTS.
Announced by Linus Torvalds just a few hours ago, Linux kernel 5.10 is an LTS (Long-Term Support) release and brings several new features and various improvements, along with a bunch of updated and new drivers for better hardware support, so that alone might be a good reason to upgrade your kernel.
Highlights of Linux kernel 5.10 LTS include support for the ARMv8.5 memory tagging extension, support for the SM2 digital-signature algorithm, support for Amazon Nitro enclaves, reduced latency of multiple file operations for the EXT4 file system, and the ability to transmit data on multiple flows simultaneously.
It also adds a performance boost to the Btrfs file system for fsync() operations, expands AMD’s SEV (Secure Encrypted Virtualization) to also encrypt the guest’s processor registers, fixes more “year-2038” problems in the XFS file system, adds EFI boot support for the RISC-V architecture, and enhances support for BPF programs.
Installing Linux kernel 5.10 on Linux Lite
If you need any of the features above or if your hardware doesn’t work correctly or at all with Linux kernel 5.9 or a previous kernel release, you can now install Linux kernel 5.10 LTS on your Linux Lite computer by following the next instructions.
But first, I should warn you that if you use proprietary drivers, such as the NVIDIA graphics driver, you would have to rebuild and reinstall any third-party kernel modules you might have installed. Also, if your Linux Lite installation works perfectly, there’s no need to upgrade the kernel.
With that out of the way, you have two methods to install Linux kernel 5.10 LTS in Linux Lite. First, a graphical one, which involves opening the Lite Tweaks app from the System menu and selecting the “Kernel Installer” feature, and the second one involves opening a terminal emulator and executing the following commands.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install linux-headers-linuxlite-5.10.0 linux-image-linuxlite-5.10.0 -y
This will download and install Linux 5.10 LTS on your Linux Lite computer. Once the installation has finished, you will have to reboot your computer for the new kernel version to be correctly installed. The good news is that Linux kernel 5.10 is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit installations of the Linux Lite 5.x, 4.x, and 3.x series, and will be supported upstream for the next 5 years.
Last updated 3 years ago
