Ubuntu LTS releases have two kernel options.
The GA stack option is the original 5.4 kernel that Ubuntu 20.04 LTS originally installed with, and is supported the entire life of the product.
The HWE stack option (hardware enablement stack) means the kernel upgrades at 20.04.2 to using the kernel from 20.10, to using the kernel from 21.04 at 20.04.3, etc. until finally stopping when it's using the 22.04 kernel when it reaches 20.04.5.
There is always some obscure hardware combinations that run better with some kernel stack choice and not the other choice offered for LTS releases.
I'll use Lubuntu install media here as example as I know it, (and I've forgotten the specific details for Xubuntu as 20.04 was different to prior releases as it included OEM kernel choices).
Installing Lubuntu 20.04 using either initial 20.04 or 20.04.1 media defaults to the GA kernel stack being used.
Installing Lubuntu 20.04 using 20.04.2 or later media defaults your system to using the HWE kernel stack.
If you install Ubuntu Server; you have the option of selecting the stack at install time; this choice was offered via the media used for most flavors or post-install for main Ubuntu and potentially some flavors (I don't test all; I tested Lubuntu, Xubuntu & Kubuntu but only remember Lubuntu reliably).
Details of HWE can be found at
- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack
- https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Rolli...nablementStack
which includes the commands to install/switch the other stack post-install
To report bugs I'll offer
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs
It's best if you file on your actual machine using
Code:
ubuntu-bug linux-generic-hwe-20.04
FYI: We're getting close to the time of the 5.8 kernel being deprecated; and 20.04 systems using HWE will upgrade to using the 5.11 kernel (ie. 20.04.3 upgrade) which occurs on installed systems prior to official release (official release refers to the ISO release for new installs).
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