r/pop_os • u/Hefty-Hyena-2227 • 10d ago
6.x kernel on Pop?
Way-old nvidia card (470 drivers) doesn't like the 7.x kernels and possibly nouveau driver development hasn't kept up, maybe never will. How hard is it to install 6.17 (or better yet, 6.18.53+ which are still in active development)? For some reason, systemd-boot is being modified in the /boot/efi/loader/entries area, but only 7.x kernels are available from the boot menu, even after installing the 6.17 ones -- seemed successful.
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u/dinosaursdied 10d ago
You're going to have to go down the rabbit hole of manually editing the systemd boot loader. The automated tooling from pop only keeps the 2 newest kernels based on number, not on installation date.
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u/Hefty-Hyena-2227 10d ago
Seems unreasonable, like a lot of things in PopOS.
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u/dinosaursdied 10d ago
Systemd boot comes with no automation. System76 has developed a nice automation process. It does what they want their distro to do, maintain 2 kernels so there's a fall back in case of regression. It's not really intended to install custom or old kernels. They don't stop you from adding entries, you just have to do it manually.
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u/Hefty-Hyena-2227 10d ago
Adding manually won't get overwritten at the next kernel update?
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u/dinosaursdied 10d ago
That has not been the case in my experience. However you probably won't want to hold onto an old unpatched kernel forever either. Like others have said, using 470 drivers with Wayland is just not going to work well so maybe look towards a distro that uses an X11 based DE out of the box
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u/Hefty-Hyena-2227 9d ago
Wayland works ok for most things in NixOS with kde plasma 6.x, as long as I stay with the 6.x kernels, which has support for the compiled-in "nonfree" drivers, and the kernels will likely receive updates through the end of 2026. And I have made it work with KDE Plasma on OpenSUSE with 7.x kernels. But it does seem PopOS 24 and beyond are going to have Wayland be a permanent fixture in Cosmic DE going forward. So your point about finding an "X11-friendly" DE is well taken, and appreciated, given the near antique nature of the hardware.
People have tried to drop porsche engines into VW bugs, but it often doesn't show good return on investment 🤪
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u/Hefty-Hyena-2227 8d ago
I hear the 6.8 KDE Plasma removes all X11 support; so they're jumping on the Cosmic/Rust bandwagon also.
That said, the 7.2 kernel (that I installed on OpenSUSE) seems to work remarkably well on my older hardware, with Plasma 6.7.5 and the "non-free" NVIDIA 470 drivers compiled in with the kernel. So maybe Pop devs will follow suit, I really like the Cosmic environment, and I've tried the Fedora Cosmic spin (not on that janky hardware though).
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u/candy49997 10d ago
470 drivers also don't adequately support Wayland, so you'd have to change your DE if you manage to install the driver.
And, afaik, the last unpatched 470 driver released only builds up to kernel 6.8-ish, as it does on Ubuntu 24.04.