this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
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I built a custom kernel specifically for AMD ThinkPads — detkernel (github.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Detcom@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.world
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I've been running AMD ThinkPads for a while and always felt like the stock kernel carries a lot of dead weight, like Intel CPU/GPU drivers, NVIDIA, Dell/HP/Asus vendor blobs, server SCSI controllers, legacy filesystems, ancient WiFi drivers from 2003. None of that belongs on a ThinkPad.

So I built detkernel (yeah, I know), a custom kernel that strips all of that out and keeps only what AMD ThinkPads actually need.

What's removed:

  • Intel CPU/GPU (i915, xe, microcode)
  • NVIDIA (nouveau)
  • All non-ThinkPad vendor drivers (Dell, HP, Asus, Sony, Apple...)
  • Server SCSI controllers (Adaptec, LSI, HP SmartArray...)
  • Legacy WiFi (Prism, ZyDAS, old Ralink, IPW2100/2200...)
  • Dead filesystems (ReiserFS, HFS, UFS, JFFS2...)
  • Legacy network protocols (AppleTalk, ATM, X.25...)

What stays:

  • Full AMD support (Zen1–Zen5, RDNA GPU, ACP audio, PMC, P-state)
  • All ThinkPad WiFi chips (Intel AX, Qualcomm WCN, MediaTek MT7921/MT7925, Realtek RTW89)
  • Realtek LAN (it's in every ThinkPad)
  • HDA Realtek audio + USB audio
  • ThinkPad ACPI, HID Lenovo
  • KVM/AMD, VFIO

Two variants:

  • detkernel-universal — x86-64-v3, works on all AMD ThinkPads (T495 and newer)
  • detkernel-zen5 — znver5, for Ryzen AI 300 series (T14 G5-G6, T16 G3, P14s G5-G6), includes 500Hz tick, BBRv3 TCP, NTSYNC for Wine/Proton

Distributed as UKI (.efi) for systemd-boot users — just drop it in /boot/EFI/Linux/ and reboot. vmlinuz + initramfs also available for GRUB/rEFInd.

Currently based on Linux 7.0.12-zen1.

GitHub: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/detkernel

Looking for testers, especially on older models (T495, T14 G1-G2, L14/L15). Would love to hear how it runs on your machine.

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[–] Detcom@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You're right that unused modules don't load into memory. The real gains are smaller initramfs (faster boot), reduced attack surface, and the zen5 variant adds 500Hz tick, BBRv3 and NTSYNC which you don't get in vanilla kernels. Filesystems point is fair, I kept the common ones (ext4, xfs, btrfs, f2fs, ntfs3).

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 1 points 1 week ago

What's the benefit of halfing the kernel's tick rate?