Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail was released just a few days ago and chances are you’re not running the latest Linux kernel just released today. This brief tutorial is going to show you how to upgrade your current kernel in Ubuntu to take advantage of some of the newest features in the new Linux kernel.

This release brings many changes including support for SSDs as hard-disk cache, improvement in the way jobs are shared among different processors, support for Radeon graphic driver, and many others.

The announcement by Linus Torvalds can be found @ http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1304.3/02009.html

The Linux Kernel 3.9 is considered stable, which means it has been tested and proven to work although some systems might have issues with it. If you’re not confortable upgrading your kernel, please don’t do it. There’s almost no turning back when something goes wrong, so please backup your computer before attempting.

Below are some of the features of this kernel.

  • drivers: net: ethernet: cpsw: get slave VLAN id from slave node instead of cpsw node
  • netfilter: nf_ct_sip: don’t drop packets with offsets pointing outside the packet
  • ARM: 7699/1: sched_clock: Add more notrace to prevent recursion
  • ARM: cache: remove ARMv3 support code
  • ARM: mm: remove broken condition check for v4 flushing
  • bonding: in bond_mc_swap() bond’s mc addr list is walked without lock

To begin upgrading your kernel in Ubuntu, press Ctrl – Alt – T on your keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below to update your system first.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove

 

After updating your machine, restart then logon and change the the temp directory.

cd /tmp

 

When there, download the 32-bits kernel by using the links below.

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900rc8-generic_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_i386.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900rc8_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_all.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-image-3.9.0-030900rc8-generic_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_i386.deb

 

For the 64-bits kernel, use the links below.

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900rc8-generic_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_amd64.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-headers-3.9.0-030900rc8_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_all.deb http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.9-rc8-raring/linux-image-3.9.0-030900rc8-generic_3.9.0-030900rc8.201304211835_amd64.deb

 

After downloading, run the commands below to install or upgrade your kernel.

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

 

Next, update grub by running the commands below.

sudo update-grub2

 

Restart your computer and verify. To remove the previous kernel, run the commands below

sudo apt-get autoremove

 

Enjoy!

 

linux_kernel_39_ubuntu1304

 

To remove or uninstall the 3.9 kernel for whatever reason, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.9.0*

 

Update grub again, restart and you should be good.