Which Arch Linux Kernel Should I Use!

[@kenielf]

for anyone using any kernel aside from the non-stable, be sure to read the wiki! Some things, like nvidia-dkms, may require the kernel specific headers! each package should have the following naming style: kernel-headers. For example: linux-zen is the kernel, while linux-zen-headers is the proper header package.

[@galdutro]

Also, the LTS kernel gets a lot of backported code from the newer releases. But only code that doesn’t change the ABI or the behavior of features that other software relies on.

[@ZsoltDonca]

I've been using the Zen kernel for around a year now on my desktop and could never go back for one single reason: when out of RAM and in need of using swap, my system behaves perfectly fine on the Zen kernel, I barely feel it. The same thing was absolutely horrible on both the standard and the LTS kernel: when my system started swapping, it became unresponsive, with my mouse lagging for seconds to minutes in the worst cases. I looked up why the standard kernel was behaving the way it was, and it turns out that it's because it's optimized for server usage and high throughput. TLDR: when RAM is full and in need of using swap, my system is just as responsive as otherwise when using the Zen kernel , but on the standard kernels my systems starts to lag and becomes unusable.

[@umangbhalla]

same experience, i even have swappiness to 10 for my laptop

[@stereomato]

on the stock kernel you can get the same level of smoothness with swappiness=200, zram, and a couple other sysctl tweaks

[@SuperVista64]

In case anybody is interested,this is thanks to the le9 ,its not mainstream on the main kernel yet but people of Zen/Liquorix took the code and apply it to their custom kernel,thats why the system behave perfectly fine on low RAM.

[@lpanebr]

This is really useful to know! I'm on Ubuntu and thinking to switch to Arch. I've experienced the exact behavior you describe a couple times but didn't know what could cause it!

[@FahadAyaz]

I've seen this behaviour so often. I didn't think changing the kernel could improve things so much. I'll have to look up if Zen is available on Ubuntu 🤔

[@th4tkh13m]

Been using LTS for months and I love it. It seems to use less RAM and my laptop seems to be cooler too

[@avalon3664]

My personal experience with the zen kernel has been wonderful. Even with my 9900k and 2080 it is basically required on windows only AAA titles(ie cyberpunk 2077, gta V, etc). Without it these games jump from 20-40 fps at 4k to a stable 60 fps at 4k. Also if you run nvidia drivers you will need to replace them with the nvidia-dkms package.

[@ayushmaanaggarwal4363]

You might need to search for and use a hardware specific kernel sometimes. The Microsoft Surface lineup, especially the touchscreen and pen options wouldn't work in most cases without using the surface-linux kernel.

[@ZephyrCheez]

The one I use is less known, but it's called the xanmod kernel with the task type scheduler

[@garthdev]

In 2024 the xanmod kernel is a pain do download..Flakey at best.. I'm using the cachyos-bore kernel and it's speed is incredible..I'm not kidding!!

[@Epsilonsama]

For desktop use I recommend the Zen.

[@JeoshuaCollins]

The best way to maximize your kernel performance is to find a pre-made kernel that works for your needs, get the source for that, run the xconfig, and select "Native" for your compiler optimizations. Then make the kernel package for your distro and profit.

[@jeremyjohansson3445]

What does "Native" do?

[@JeoshuaCollins]

@@jeremyjohansson3445 It selects whatever optimizations might be profitable at compile time for your specific CPU architecture, as opposed to the general X86 target your distro likely distributes.

[@scavanger1000]

I've been using zen on desktop and laptop for like half the year, it's pretty neato

[@MrRa1nes]

I've been using linux-amd-znver2 from the AUR for months now, on a Ryzen 4700U laptop, of course. It's newer than the official linux package from core/testing and still stable, never had any problems with it.

[@DerekWitt]

I run the Xen (not Zen) kernel on my Ubuntu 21.04 server (HP compaq presario from 2008). Works quite stable for my various virtual machines I sometimes fire up from time to time.

[@nnaaaaaa]

i personally love the debian testing kernel because it's got all the benefits of rolling release without having to deal with the arch linux package maintainer breaking stuff every few months.

[@kevindetolli]

If I just change repo for testing, will the kernel also changes when I sudo apt update and upgrade?

[@LevisRaju]

when I had my ryzen apu on its early days which the kernels out there was not completely supporting it, I learned to compile them myself to include some newly released kernel patches from amd which were not merged to the latest stable releases.

[@paulnoecker1202]

Funtoo user btw. The aufs kernel is live cd specific. Aufs was recently deprecated by new union file systems in the kernel

[@maxarendorff6521]

I've been running the LTS kernel for years now. It's just a more stable and reliable experience and I don't need any of the newer features of the latest kernel or support for brand new hardware.

[@trapspringer9891]

Thank you for this vid. Very useful knowledge

[@mrchristoph5674]

Your thumbnails always make me lol :).

[@LinuxinaBit]

I'm using stable 5.14.10-1 right now... That Manjaro Kernel switcher is quite handy.

[@withercubes3295]

I have used different kernels for Arch Linux, but I didn't get any massive performance difference. So I switched back to the main (stable) Arch Linux kernel.

[@repnzscasb560]

That should be the correct answer

[@wiz3905]

Because you're so detail oriented, please explain how to check the actual content of "Firmware Targeted for Upgrading" when you get notices to upgrade Firmware. I don't want to blindly automatically upgrade Firmware whether I have it or not like .Windows Bios Security firmware!

[@Isaiahmag]

I like the "Available ernals" section

[@Bagginsess]

If you're familiar with it could you do a video on overclocking CPU/GPU? Would be cool to flex on windows power users 🍿

[@systemthirtytwo]

Are you guys mind readers? Every day when i think of something to do with my Arch install, one of you guys drops a video on it. Like when i had just been thinking of switching display manager to SDDM Dt drops a video on it, when i think of switching kernel you drop a video on it. I'm getting scared!

[@houndsolo1]

there's so much to do 💜

[@clocked0]

Remember, once you're part of the Linux hivemind - You are part of the Linux hivemind. There is no getting out, resistance is futile. There is only GNU

[@clocked0]

@@TheJosephAller ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US.

[@therealchonk]

Could you do a video, on how to compile a custom kernel on Arch, so that it's also package-managed. On Gentoo it's a no-brainer, but I recently switched back to Arch and I dunno how it works here.

[@mskiptr]

Probably just like any other custom | AUR package. You get the PKGBUILD and it. (I've never done it tho)

[@mskiptr]

For some reason YT hates `makepkg -i` so just fill the hole above with that.

[@therealchonk]

@@mskiptr Well, that's not what I want. I want a package, that reads my custom kernel config and updates it whenever a new stable or mainline release gets out.

[@mskiptr]

@@therealchonk Well then that sounds like an AUR helper. Some of them can check git repos for updates and stuff

[@therealchonk]

@@mskiptr Yes, but I need a custom .config, otherwise it's pointless building a kernel.

[@iceman8075]

Hey brodie! Typo in first timestamp, it is ernel not Kernel in the video

[@Aura_Mancer]

I always use the normal "linux" kernel, and I keep the "linux-lts" in case something breaks (specially in laptops) I can just boot that with a grub option.

[@0x007A]

I always run the LTS kernel since I stopped having to compile my own kernel from source code almost a decade ago.

[@BUDA20]

real recent use case, NTFS3 was released for 5.15, so upgrading let me use NTFS with better performance in games (the old user space ntfs-3g give stutter while gaming), also NTFS3 can read the "new" compression XPRESS/LZX on NTFS files

[@s9209122222]

I need Waydroid, so I have no choice but installing linux-zen if I don't want to compile the kernel.

[@geoffreyrenemoiens3089]

Thank you!

[@gabrielwilliams6373]

Parabola repos have linux-libre-hardened: 100% free (libre) software with security hardening.

[@obake6290]

I use the zen kernel on Arch specifically for the fsync patches. It has replaced the stable kernel for me in day to day use. Stable I still have installed, but I might uninstall it sometime soon. LTS I keep around just in case a kernel update breaks zfs again and I need something to boot into to fix it.

[@bestledisthe]

LTS Kernel, works better for VFIO GPU passthrough

[@crazychicken0378]

Libre of course

[@fawzanfawzi9993]

I use LTS kernel simply because the regression with the newer kernel. My Lenovo laptop has trouble with suspend and the patch for it only works on 5.10 LTS and below. I heard that the patches have been merged in 5.15 update though so I might switch to mainline kernel if it works.

[@NoelleTGS2]

Did you ever end up making a video of your thoughts on the zen kernel?

[@HobbitJack1]

I couldn't find it with a quick search of the channel.

[@mewhenthemewhenstheme]

Linux-libre is good for your soul

[@shizuvoice]

Before I jumped to Xanmod kernel from the stable kernel, I always get stutter on CSGO around 20-45FPS and my Pipewire audio server with EasyEffects have this audio stutter on most games (native and WINE). After installing Xanmod kernel, my CSGO got better without stutter around 190FPS and it fixed most of the audio stutter. I heard about Zen kernel before but haven't tried yet so I don't know how does it feel to run on that kernel.

[@leeashleyanthony]

linux-mainline from the Chaotix repo

[@baaz5642]

Use my kernel because iam currently very fast

[@samuelmatheson9655]

im on zen, makes things slightly more snappy

[@iodreamify]

oh, i thought Arch liked to keep as close to upstream as possible? Didn't know they had patches for the stable kernel.

[@ajddavid452]

most likely minor tweaks that improve the experience on arch

[@fusebox4473]

The libre kernel works really well on my x220 running trisquel, absolutely everything works. I compiled the libre kernel for the gentoo box and it turns out my motherboard hates it, f

[@unfa00]

How do the LQX and ZEN kernels differ?

[@glitchyjoe64]

Yes. I recommend LQX.

[@unfa00]

@@glitchyjoe64 Thanks, though I asked how do they differ, not if they differ, as I assume they are not the same thing :D

[@hermannpaschulke1583]

Hurd of course

[@JesseNeckred]

One difference I've noticed is lts boots up at 226MB ram on my laptop into xorg, while zen boots at 300MB. This must be related to the performance vs actual response time thing.

[@glitchyjoe64]

liquorix seems to be the smoothest and has the lowest latency by far. My tweaked cachyos kernel has a max latency of 4.6ms but liqourix has around 2.8ms.

[@mrfluffy9273]

Linux-LTS or Linux kernel because my zen broke and I get PCIE info continuously printed out when I boot its super weird but when I boot with zen I don't boot to my system I get all my device information like the model number of my Logitech keyboard don't know why haven't done any investigation because booting from normal linux just worked and I was to lazy to fix

[@the-real-zpero]

Are there any kernels that are optimized for battery life? Or is that not a thing due to Tlp and auto-cpufreq being packages that take care of that?

[@theviolet4725]

Yeah auto-cpufreq is good you can squeeze the performance while maintaining good battery life

[@OlaffLudwig]

Hey man, just a heads up from somebody being new to your channel. Your video was quite informative (at least to me), but man.... It feels like you are shouting at me (or anybody, watching the video), for whatever reason. I know that might just be your way of talking, but I feel like i am being scolded... Idk why. Just a food for thought. Anyway thank you for your content.

[@YlwDrknss]

What about linux-tkg?

[@Omi_Kasigi]

What's a good kernel for Arch for gaming that's similar to Xanmod on Debian/Ubuntu? I want to switch over to Arch but based on my experience with Manjaroi, I've had bad experiences when it comes to gaming on Steam/Lutris. Any advice? I just started using Linux 4 months ago using Pop!OS with the Xanmod Kernel. Thanks!

[@BrodieRobertson]

A lot of people recommend Zen, I'm in the middle of testing it though so I can't confirm if this is a good choice

[@mk72v2oq]

There are tons of custom kernels in AUR, including Xanmod. So you can just continue to use it.

[@discordiangod]

9:23 Might as well switch to gentoo

[@tireseas]

I've had decent experiences with Zen.

[@alphabennyrosy5068]

I have had issues with the zen kernel where my computer would not reboot or shutdown. Like the screens would go black but the PC fans run forever until I hold the power off button. The stable vanilla kernel and the LTS kernel has not given me any major problem like the zen kernel.

[@royboivin]

im running the linux kernel but when i try and switch to the zen kernel it doesnt seam to boot for me. not sure if this is due to having an nvidia card and not installing the nvidia drivers on it yet or what the issue is.

[@glitchyjoe64]

Install dkms and nvidia-dkms. It's the same as normal nvidia but it includes dynamic kernal module systems needed to run other kernels.

[@B5152g]

I have been using the experimental kernel for the last 2 years on Manjaro every time it shows up as available in their message center.. it's an old Vista Intel laptop that I just leave and use by my living room chair. So it's not that important, but I haven't had any problems..

[@solarwolf678]

I actually only installed arch once with archfi

[@JackPorter]

Trick question, only use TempleOS

[@DankUser]

I use zen btw

[@chalplec4241]

Do you recommend a distro with a less bloated repository than Arch? I get the reasoning behind why they package things with so many bloated dependencies and configurations for the sake of simplicity and making their job easy but I really don't need an entire Wayland configured setup when I install my mesa package and plan on running X.

[@sudonim116]

Void or Gentoo

[@cosmo_4785]

i use linux-tkg

[@marcello4258]

compile one yourself :P

[@Bagginsess]

>custom kernel

[@jameswarner8038]

Top Half Business, Bottom half party

[@dougtilaran3496]

Liquorix

[@PwrXenon]

I prefer using GNU/Kernel myself

[@Ajme-kb4os]

Tkg ftw

[@foehammer2127]

I run linux-lts

[@BrodieRobertson]

I always have LTS available on the off chance something goes wrong

[@foehammer2127]

@@BrodieRobertson Great Video

[@AbteilungsleiterinBeiAntifaEV]

I've heard good things about linux-tkg kernels in the chaotic-aur

[@M1America]

Updating kernel using AUR? Yikes dude.

[@BrodieRobertson]

It's no different from compiling it yourself

[@rynax009]

Sounds like always angry channel should called fury linux

[@Little-bird-told-me]

This guy confuses the hell out of me _everytime_ Why does youtube recommend me his videos ?

[@BrodieRobertson]

Wow that video is already a year old

[@mrsansiverius2083]

Hurd Lol, just kidding.

[@theexile4694]

linux-zen - It still does zero job telling you what it's all about. Lol.

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