My system:
HP Laptop 15s-eq1xxx
Kernel: 6.4.7-arch1-2 arch: x86_64 bits: 6
Desktop: KDE Plasma
v: 5.27.7 Distro: EndeavourOS
Hi,
somebody suggested, as a newbie I should use an LTS kernel. If so, how. please, could I get one and how long would the life span of an LTS kernel be?
Thank you,
endocub
sudo pacman -S linux-lts linux-lts-headers
The LTS kernel gets bug fixes for two years and security fixes for three years.
Yeah, but on Arch, you’re not going to use it that long, you’re going to upgrade it almost as soon as the new LTS version is released.
You are very unlikely to notice any difference between an LTS kernel and the mainline kernel. LTS is usually a safer choice, since it is older and therefore better tested and had more of its bugs fixed. But that is not always true, the moment new LTS kernel is released, it is still new. And the mainline kernel on Arch is pretty good, too.
It’s a good idea to have multiple kernels installed, at least LTS and mainline. That way, if there is a problem, you have a backup kernel to boot from. That may make it a bit easier to troubleshoot problems, possibly avoiding having to boot a live ISO image and chroot. This is especially true if you’re using a proprietary graphics driver, where such situations are a bit more common.
So you probably should install LTS alongside the mainline kernel. Which one you actually use doesn’t matter much. My advice would be to try them both, keep them both installed, and if you notice any difference, just use the one that works better.
Once something broke - you’ll notice that difference 
Sure, but Arch is so boring, nothing ever breaks… 
Yes, that’s right–when a new LTS kernel is announced (probably next year, most likely a 7 kernel), the linux-lts package will automatically switch over. I guess the meaning of the question itself is somewhat relevant here.
Certainly there is no need for the user to “switch over” in any way when the current LTS kernel becomes end of life–like all packages on a rolling release, the new stuff just comes down as soon as it is ready.
I mean…It’s not exactly true 
Frankly, if you’re using an exotic filesystem like XFS, you’re just asking for trouble. Also, if that is the case, it is assumed that you have an excellent backup strategy (and that your backup drives use ext4 ).
But yeah, that is not boring.
Or this one 
Was anyone affected by that on EndeavourOS? Anyone here on the forum?
Nah, not only that…There are many different problems i remember from forums here and there, some are pretty detrimental…To stay actually boring
That’s why my personal recommendation is always:
That’s all good advice, of course, but the LTS kernel is also at times new and has bugs. Sometimes on Arch, though rarely, LTS kernel can be the same version or even newer than the mainline. Usually, it lags behind, and that’s a good thing.
Yes, that’s why my next advice - when new major lts kernel version is out - wait for couple of weeks before update
I tried that once, but failed the challenge after 5 seconds. I MUST UPDATE! Can’t have my neighbour use newer software than me, what will people think?
How many of your neighbors use Arch or something even faster?!
It’s a huge crowd of nobody, i bet
That’s not the point. The point is (if there ever was one) that they might!
Uhh…xfs is one of the most mature and widely used linux filesystems. It has been the default fs for many distros. I don’t think it can be classified as “exotic”.
I have been hit by issues with the mainline kernel many times on Arch and others report issues on the forum almost every time a new kernel is released.
With the mainline kernel, there are often issues with those early point releases that impact percentage of the user base. On Arch, we get kernels early enough that there are often issues that can be impactful depending on the hardware and software you use.
Frankly, we have 2 laptops with intel igpu, both run eos and only the newest one had a problem. Booting with LTS kernel fixed the problem. And it was a year ago but if i remember correctly a update fixed the problem pretty quickly.
This is why, i jumped into the grub bug of last year after reading the news on the forum
I don’t use an lts kernel. Don’t believe in it unless there is a need to use it because of a specific hardware issue. I haven’t had any issues with the mainline kernel. Well we did have the grub fiasco but that’s water under the bridge. 
On Arch I would say it is quite exotic. On more stable distros, it is fairly common (less and less in the current year), but my bet would be that the percentage of Arch users who use XFS is very low. And with EndeavourOS, even lower.
That was not a kernel issue, that was an issue with one EndeavourOS pacman hook that regenerated the GRUB configuration every time a kernel was updated.