Linux Kernel 5.9 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Posted by warren October 12, 2020

Linux Kernel

Linux Kernel 5.9 was released a day ago. Linus Torvalds announced that:

Ok, so I’ll be honest – I had hoped for quite a bit fewer changes this last week, but at the same time there doesn’t really seem to be anything particularly scary in here. It’s just more commits and more lines changed than I would have wished for.

The bulk of this is the networking fixes that I already mentioned as being pending in the rc8 release notes last weekend. In fact, about half the patch (and probably more of the number of commits) is from the networking stuff (both drivers and elsewhere).

…

Linux 5.9 features initial Intel Rocket Lake graphics, NVMe zoned namespaces (ZNS) support, 32-bit x86 Clang build support, initial support for Radeon RX 6000 “RDNA 2” graphics cards, and more.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.9 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use.

For a graphical tool to install updated kernel package, try Mainline.

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.9 (64-bit) are now available for download at the link below:

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Download Kernel 5.9

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio):

  1. linux-headers-5.9.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  3. linux-modules-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

Alternatively you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands ( open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T):

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-modules-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.9:

Restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 5.9:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.9.0-050900-generic
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