Is it recommended to upgrade via apt-get? I notice that over 100 packages are held back when I try to upgrade via the patchbox command. My concern is that an apt-get upgrade might break modep or replace the patchbox os kernel.
If itâs all working fine on your system, you may choose not to update. 
absolutely! this should be the first IT rule 
I agree in principle but because patchbox os is a modified raspbian system, I am not sure if apt-get would break things or if the structure of the repos is made âbreak proofâ.
Itâs compatible with apt-get, the kernel package is named âraspberrypi-kernel-rtâ and you can either have the regular âraspberrypi-kernelâ installed or the -rt one. apt-get upgrade would only update the currently installed kernel package, and ignore any updates of the other variation. Things may break after upgrading in unexpected ways anyway.