In early 2018, the Linux community faced a significant challenge with the release of AMD’s Ryzen APUs (Raven Ridge). While the hardware was revolutionary, it required a very recent kernel to function correctly. Kernel 4.16 was the first stable release to provide out-of-the-box support for the integrated Vega graphics and improved thermal management for these chips.
This guide, preserved from our archives, outlines the manual installation process for systems like Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19 that originally shipped with older kernels.
Why Kernel 4.16 was a Game Changer
At the time of its release, Kernel 4.16 introduced several critical updates:
- AMD Raven Ridge Support: Full support for Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G.
- Spectre & Meltdown Mitigations: Further refinements to security patches.
- Improved Virtualization: Updates to KVM for better performance in virtual machines.
- Driver Updates: Improved support for newer Intel and Nvidia hardware.
Installation via Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Installer
The most common way to install this specific kernel version was using the Mainline Kernel PPA or a tool like UKUU (Ubuntu Kernel Upgrade Utility).
If you were doing this manually in 2018, you would download the following .deb packages from the Ubuntu mainline archive:
linux-headers-4.16.0-xxx_all.deblinux-headers-4.16.0-xxx-generic_amd64.deblinux-image-4.16.0-xxx-generic_amd64.deb
Manual Command Line Installation
To install the downloaded packages, the following command was used in the terminal:
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
After the installation finished, a GRUB update was required to register the new kernel:
sudo update-grub
A reboot was then necessary to switch to the new version:
reboot
Verifying the Installation
After rebooting, users would verify their running kernel version with this command:
uname -sr
If the output showed Linux 4.16.x, the update was successful, and the Ryzen APU features were enabled.
2026 Retrospective: Legacy and Safety
As of 2026, Linux Kernel 4.16 is considered a “legacy” kernel. It reached its end-of-life (EOL) long ago and lacks modern security patches.
If you are running a modern system like Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04, you are already using Kernel 6.x or higher, which includes all these legacy improvements and thousands of others. This guide remains active for users working with “Digital Archaeology,” retro-computing, or maintaining older HTPC builds that require specific software compatibility.
For modern AMD Ryzen Embedded setups in 2026, check out our latest guides in the Chips category.
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