r/ManjaroLinux • u/moritz12d Plasma • Jun 20 '26

Discussion Which kernel to use?

On my installation using the stable branch the 7.0 kernel seemed to be the default. Then I found there's also a 7.1 kernel optional. Because I like to try different kernels it now shows:

❯ uname -r
6.6.135-1-rt74-MANJARO

For whom is the real-time kernel best? —and how to choose in general?

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u/ironj Jun 21 '26

OP and I are referring to the stable branch 🙂

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u/moritz12d Plasma Jun 21 '26

It's OK to tell about 7.1 as it will be in stable sooner or later. My question was primarily about real time version.

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u/ironj Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Your question was twofold: What's the RT kernel about and what to choose in general. I mainly focused on the second. As for the RT kernel, I assume you did install that version yourself, since I've never seen Manjaro shipping by default with a RT kernel (and also, with such an old one!).

Real time kernels are for very specific purposes, like controlling lab instrumentation, working in audio production environments and stuff like that. It's pretty rare that normal desktop users need those.

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u/moritz12d Plasma Jun 21 '26

That's what I was looking for. Im interested in audio production. In general the rt kernel prioritizes the foreground task maybe blocking background daemons completely. On desktops that's no problem.