1204_HWE_EOL
WARNING: THIS PAGE IS A WIP!
Hardware Enablement Stacks (HWE) are incorporated into installers for select LTS point releases and provide hardware support from recent Ubuntu releases. For Ubuntu 12.04 the point releases are .2/.3/.4/.5 and the corresponding Ubuntu releases are 12.10/13.04/13.10/14.04.
The HWE path can be obtained in 2 ways: 1. Installing Ubuntu from the media (ISO) for these point releases where HWE is used by default. 2. Manually installing a special kernel via a metapackage (ex: linux-image-generic-lts-saucy).
The HWE kernels and graphics stacks are only supported until August 8th, with the exception being the lts-trusty backport from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
What are my options if I am affected?
- Install the 12.04 + Trusty HWE backport which will be supported until 12.04 goes EOL. This does mean the kernel and graphics stack will be upgraded.
- Upgrade from 12.04 to 14.04
What are the pros and cons of those choices?
HWE Upgrade Only |
Full 14.04 Upgrade |
|
Kernel |
14.04 Kernel version (3.13 kernel) |
14.04 Kernel version (3.13 kernel) |
Xorg |
14.04 Xorg and Graphics Stack |
14.04 Xorg and Graphics Stack |
EOL |
12.04 EOL (April 2017) |
14.04 EOL (April 2019) |
Applications/Servers |
Generally no change* |
Newer 14.04 Versions will be installed |
Upgrade Time (estimates with fast hardware) |
10-30 Minutes with reboot |
1-3 hours with reboot + |
*It's important to note that changing the Linux kernel/Xorg stack can affect applications. For example the 14.04 kernel can online resize ext4 partitions much faster than the 12.04 kernel can. +Note: A fresh install of 14.04 is much faster than an upgrade and is definitely an option if you would prefer not upgrading in place.