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Linux Mint begin shipping HWE (Hardware Enablement) ISOs for better hardware support
(www.gamingonlinux.com)
this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
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It's not new. It would usually have been included in their regular release but now they have moved to a longer release schedule so need to release these HWE ISOs instead.
Current Mint kernel is 6.14 I think which is from last year so not that old.
6.14 is "not that old" but probably has issues with laptops that are sitting in Best Buy right now. I think it's pretty important to have support for modern hardware.
I've seen lots of people complain about trying to get their WiFi working on Linux and they get frustrated and switch back to Windows. I wonder how many of those people were on a kernel that's "not that old"
Tbf, mainline kernels are a thing in ubuntu based systems and ive been running 7.0 from day one ( now 7.0.2).
Your argument is moot to me, specially with the new releases. There is an argument for old software in mint/debian based systems, but kernel aint it. There is also 6.17 for ubuntu, which is supported by them, incase mainline is too technical for somebody.
(Fyi, im having audio issues. Its like pipewire doesnt like the 7.x audio refactor )
Many of those wireless issues are because the ISO doesn't include the firmware rather than it having an older kernel - usually because the firmware isn't free software. Have seen loads of posts where after installing through ethernet or a tethered phone everything works.
A kernel older than a couple of weeks seems old to me...