I have rarely needed to manually update my Linux Kernel myself. When I did that, however, it was using either Synaptics or the command line. Today, I came across a utility tool which provides a GUI method to install and update various Linux Kernel versions in Ubuntu.
Ukuu is an open-source utility tool with which you can install Linux kernel versions while they are still in development phase and also revert to older ones.
It features an easy-to-use GUI that is customizable with themes and since it floats, doesn’t get in the way of your workflow.
It was developed by Tony Goerge who, with regards to concerns pointed out by users because Ukuu fetches its list of kernels from kernel.ubuntu.com said,
There is no harm in installing kernels from kernel.ubuntu.com. In case of any issues, you can boot your system using a previous kernel and uninstall the new one. Ubuntu’s boot menu has an entry for ‘Advanced Boot Options‘. Select this entry and select a previous kernel to boot from.
… Install mainline kernels only if they fix any particular problems for you or if you want to try out the latest kernel. Be prepared to face issues, and make sure you are know how to boot to a previous kernel from the GRUB menu.
Features in Ukuu Kernel Manager
- FOSS – free & open-source.
- Gets its list of kernels directly from kernel.ubuntu.com.
- Displays alerts to notify you when new kernel updates are available.
- Downloads and installs packages automatically.
Install Ukuu via the terminal by entering the following commands in a new terminal window:
$ sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install ukuu
Are you particular about your Linux Kernel version? Especially when upgrading to the latest one can be hazardous sometimes? Well, at least you have Ukuu to help you roll back to earlier and more reliable ones.
Tell us what you think about Ukuu in the comments section below.
at this time (Feb 2021) a free vesion of UKUU is no longer offered or available
so the instructions above do not work.
shawn@acer:~$ sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppaIgn:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.04 _Disco Dingo_ - Release amd64 (20190416) disco InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.04 _Disco Dingo_ - Release amd64 (20190416) disco Release
Ign:4 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
Hit:6 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release
Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-backports InRelease [88.8 kB]
Get:9 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease [88.4 kB]
Get:10 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu disco InRelease [15.4 kB]
Hit:11 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
Get:13 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu disco/main amd64 Packages [1,184 B]
Get:14 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu disco/main i386 Packages [1,180 B]
Get:15 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu disco/main Translation-en [572 B]
Fetched 196 kB in 2s (116 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
shawn@acer:~$ sudo apt-get update
Ign:1 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.04 _Disco Dingo_ - Release amd64 (20190416) disco InRelease
Hit:2 cdrom://Ubuntu 19.04 _Disco Dingo_ - Release amd64 (20190416) disco Release
Hit:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
Ign:5 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:6 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release
Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-updates InRelease
Get:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-backports InRelease [88.8 kB]
Hit:9 http://ppa.launchpad.net/teejee2008/ppa/ubuntu disco InRelease
Hit:10 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu disco InRelease
Get:11 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu disco-security InRelease [88.4 kB]
Fetched 177 kB in 1s (190 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
shawn@acer:~$ sudo apt-get install ukuu
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package ukuu
Just get the
.debpackage from here