Not something I've taken a lot of notice of as Zorin just works for me.
I was wondering if somebody could explain in simple terms the significance of the Kernel, I noticed that Zorin is well behind other distros when it comes to kernel versions.
I'm assuming 5.15 is an LTS version, but will the next Zorin release have a more updated kernel ? or whatever Ubuntu ships with at the time.
As I say its only curiosity not something that overly concerns me as my machine is a few years old now and everything runs just fine and again I assume its only if you have more up to date hardware that it becomes an issue.
5.15 is an LTS release.
I believe Zorin 15 (based on 18.04) uses the 5.4 kernel so I'm pretty sure that Zorin 17 will use a later kernel, possibly 6.1 (same as Debian 12) as that's an LTS release as well.
Zorin OS 16 is based on Ubuntu 20.04, yet is using the same kernel as Ubuntu 22.04.
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But that is only because meanwhile Ubuntu 20.04 is using the same kernel as Ubuntu 22.04.
As long as Ubuntu 22.04 is on 5.15 I wouldn't be so sure about that. Zorin tends to just stick with whatever kernel the underlying Ubuntu base is on.
Probably not a counter argument, but currently, 22.04 uses the 6.2 kernel. But you're right, original 22.04 (not the point releases) does use 5.15.
This is some pretty interesting back and forth. And I think it may be demonstrative of changing times.
The newer a kernel is, the more likely it can have regressions, bugs and problems, as much as it may have inclusions, upgrades and patches.
The newest kernel is not necessarily desirable unless your hardware requires it.
A distro developer wants a kernel that is going to cover as many machines as broadly as possible.
And a stable LTS kernel has the best chances.
Is "today" different from "yesterday?"
Not long ago, there was little fuss in the way of Newer Kernels.
Windows OS released a new edition only a minimum of 3.4 years apart and once, 8 years after the previous. Users did not have expectations of new editions in anything less than two years. In fact, a new edition coming out too quickly was a drag. You had to reinstall and back up so much data...
Today, Microsoft Windows has snubbed even new hardware, creating an influx of new Linux users that also happen to have a lot of newer hardware.
Demand for Kernels and Drivers that support newer hardware increased dramatically.
And more machines are coming with fingerprint readers, touchscreens and multimonitors. Competative hardware manufacturers are cutting more costs by using a wider variety of Wifi Cards each with different drivers.
And due to writers of pop-tech articles pushing newer systems, even by time periods of as little as 6 months, with exaggerated wording and lots of hype, users are building these expectations that packages must be the newest, shiniest, most up to date possible otherwise they are garbage and will eat your children and ride away on your Harley with your wife.
The O.P. @Dek really worded this perfectly:
For most users, having the latest kernel is not necessary and can even bring problems for the ZorinGroup to have to put extra work into troubleshooting. Keeping a Stable LTS kernel is the wisest move. Users that do need a later kernel can install it with two simple commands.
But is it behind other distros? I can find no evidence that this is the case statistically. In fact, the opposite: Zorin OS 16 is on a higher kernel than the majority of distros that are based on Ubuntu 20.04.
But it is an older kernel than the distros that are based on Ubuntu 22.04 or the distros that are rolling release.
Here we see that wording as well as using an accurate frame of reference are important.
And we are seeing more distros being pushed by demands to be based on newer releases as well as being pushed to develop and release faster.
I blame Gnome Foundation, mostly...
Gnome devs slapped a "wontfix" on so many reports and labeled things as a 'Feature, not a bug' in anticipation of using all that feedback and fixes to sweeten the bitter water of LibAdwaita included in the Gnome 4+ release. They waited and stalled on fixing the bugginess of Gnome Software in order to include all that in Gnome4+.
And article after article was published, pumping it all up.
The times are changing, as Selling Your Brand Image takes precedence over the spirit of Cooperation, Open Source and Do One Thing & Do It Well.
The users get caught in the middle, no longer being seen as the base that makes it all possible, but instead a resource to be exploited.
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Please don't run away with idea that I'm moaning about the 5.15 kernel far from it I'm as happy as a pig in a truffle field with how my Zorin set up runs. I don't ask a lot just want to turn my PC on and get on with things which I'm able to do. I never have any issues. I was just curious about something I was not overly clued up on.
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