status:

march 20, 2019. everything finally changes with time. this is also true for kde-neon and its ubuntu-base, which is/was 18.04 LTS at the time of this posting. keep that in mind. besides, this is not a tutorial, just a tip from a non-geek.

background:

if you have hardware problems with kde neon and it turns out that they are related to the delivered/default 4.15.x kernel, you can easily upgrade to the hwe-kernel. in my case, the touchpad was only detected after this step on kde neon. especially brand-new devices benefit from this. you don't need ukuu or the very latest 4.20.x - 5x kernel. i don't recommend it.


first check:

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uname -r

if your kernel is 4.15.x , keep going :



1. what is ubuntu's hardware enablement (hwe)?

https://askubuntu.com/questions/248914/what-is-hardware-enablement-hwe

2. how to upgrade the kernel ?

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apt search linux-image | grep edge

and linux-image-generic-hwe-18.04-edge is what you need.


3. simple kernel - upgrade:

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sudo apt-get install linux-generic-hwe-18.04-edge

that's it. reboot.

4.

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uname -r

new kernel: 4.18.0-16-generic instead of 4.15.x

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lsb_release -a

kde neon still based on ubuntu 18.04 .


5. list all installed kernels:

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dpkg --list | grep linux-image

6. remove old kernels?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RemoveOldKernels

for me : subject to the heisenberg uncertainty principle. i leave it as it is. maybe someone else will find a safe way and post it here.


7. ps : other updates/upgrades on kde - neon only per :

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sudo pkcon refresh && sudo pkcon update

or

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sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

or simply :

discover/notifications.

reference: : https://masonbee.nz/updating-kde-neon/


8. what everyone knows anyway :

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flatpak update

or

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snap refresh

however, maybe not necessary but also not damaging kde neon.

ps : the next day (after a new installation of kde - neon on another system) the kernel 4.18.0-16-generic resp. linux-image-4.18.0-16-generic 4.18.0-16.17~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic was installed per default. maybe because of this : https://th3stars.com/2019/03/07/canonical-releases-linux-kernel-security-patch-for-ubuntu-18-10-update-now/