What exactly is a kernel and why should I search for a good one?

[brylow]

I'm running AOKP JB right now and somehow I never managed to learn what a kernel is.

Of course I googled it and it says that it controls how fast my processor runs. Is this going to save a significant amount of battery or something?

The thing I'm confused about is the fact that AOKP's ROM already lets me do over/underclok.

Is just that something unrelated?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Rukbat]

Re: What exactly is a kernel and why should I search for a good o

The kernel is the operating system, including the part that allows you to set the CPU speed in kernels that have that code. Some of them are better, some not so great. Read the comments about each one you find for your phone, and decide which one you want (if you want to change).

General rule of thumb: the faster the CPU runs, the faster it kills the battery, and the faster and snappier your apps are. It's a trade-off.

 

[anon(847090)]

Re: What exactly is a kernel and why should I search for a good o

I'm running AOKP JB right now and somehow I never managed to learn what a kernel is.

Of course I googled it and it says that it controls how fast my processor runs. Is this going to save a significant amount of battery or something?

The thing I'm confused about is the fact that AOKP's ROM already lets me do over/underclok.

Is just that something unrelated?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Think of kernel as a middle man which listens to what Android OS tell it to do and kernel make it happen by talking to the hardware

for example when you open Camera app, The app tells Android to activate the camera. Android in turn tell kernel to switch the camera on and kernel do it for the OS.

Android dont have direct access to the hardware of a phone/tablet but kernel does.
so a bad kernel can control the performance of a device. it can break a hardware functionality. It can control the CPU too.

 

[jean15paul]

The kernel is the interface between the hardware and the software, like still1 explained above. (It's not the operating system.) Your phone already has a kernel on it, whether you're running stock or have flashed a ROM. (Every phone has one or the OS couldn't talk to the hardware.) But just like flashing a custom ROM can give you more functionality, flashing a custom kernel can do the same thing. The main thing people do with a custom kernels is to control the behavior of the CPU to either give extra performance, better battery life, or both.

You can already change the CPU speed on your custom ROM because it has a custom kernel included. If you go to About Phone it will tell you what kernel is installed. I'm not familiar enough with AOKP to know if the dev created his own kernel or if he included an existing custom kernel. But it's possible that flashing a different kernel could give you additional functionality (e.g. variable speed profiles, control the CPU sleep settings, etc).

If you're interested in flashing a kernel, do your research. Since the kernel is the interface between the hardware and the software you have to make sure it plays well with both. Make sure that you find something that is compatible with your ROM and with your device. The best way is probably to ask in a forum or on a site that's dedicated to your specific ROM, but even asking in the device forum on this site could get you some answers.