WiFi Adapter AX201 Not Found: Ubuntu 18.04
Please note that this question is specific to Intel WiFi adapters.
My laptop is an HP ENVY with an Intel AX201 Wifi Adapter. I've dualbooted Ubuntu with Windows.
AX201 WiFi adapter is not supported by latest Ubuntu 18.04 version, because Ubuntu 18.04 comes with Linux Kernel 5.0, whereas support for AX201 comes built-in in Linux Kernel 5.2+. Canonical claims that Ubuntu 18.04 will get Linux Kernel 5.3 sometime next year. However, I wont be able to wait that long.
I tried downloading and installing Kernel 5.2.14, but I cant go beyond Grub: I get the error:
error: you need to load the kernel first.
Other option is to download the Intel Backport Driver, which I tried. That didn't seem to work either. As per the tutorials, I've restarted frequently, but that didnt work either.
Also I'm not quite sure if Intel IWLWIFI Backport driver supports AX201 in the first place.
WiFi works while I'm booted in Windows.
What should I do? Thanks in advance!
UPDATE
I tried out @Pilot6's answer, and it worked. Thanks!
I have one last question: I've read that if you upgrade the Kernel beyond what Ubuntu 18.4 supports, its kinda unsafe (which I read as prone to system crashes).
I dont want system crashes because I have only one partition (root) for Ubuntu, and any crash would likely mean all my data is lost. One method forward would be to split my Ubuntu partition into root and home.
So if I want to access WiFi on my device safely without risking any crashes, what should I do?
My understanding of Ubuntu and Linux may be wrong as they are built on forum answers only. Please correct me if Im wrong anywhere.
This wireless adapter is supported by the 5.3 Linux kernel.
You can install the 5.3 kernel already a normal "Ubuntu" way.
Run in a terminal
sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-18.04-edge
That will install the 5.3 kernel used in Ubuntu 19.10.
As soon as the 5.3 kernel is provided by linux-generic-hwe-18.04 (without edge), you can replace the meta package.
Some time next year linux-generic-hwe-18.04-edge will pull some next kernel and linux-generic-hwe-18.04 will pull the 5.3. If you don't want to switch to a new major kernel version, you can always remove linux-generic-hwe-18.04-edge and install linux-generic-hwe-18.04 later.