El Linux kernel 6.9 has been released. Includes several bug fixes, driver updates (mainly for GPUs and networking), and file system improvements. Notably, the developer now has a more powerful machine for ARM64 builds, which could improve support for that architecture in the future. The merge window for the next version, Linux 6.10, opens, and will continue with interesting improvements.
However, it is worth stopping to hardware upgrades that have been implemented in this version, since it comes loaded with surprises...
Linux 6.9: improvements to hardware support
Linux 6.9 has added support for Intel FRED (Flexible Return and Event Delivery) as well as AMD SNP (Secure Nested Paging) for more secure virtualization. Vulnerabilities for x86 hardware, etc. have also been mitigated. In the case of hardware that interests us most, we have to highlight:
- POOR:
- Support for Rust on ARM.
- Support for using LPA2 mode on ARM.
- Improvements for Allwinner SoCs. *(Improvements for SoCs include both new drivers for their functions, as well as support for new chips, improvements to different audio, video, codec, GPU, CPU, NPU, etc. elements.)
- Improvements for Rockip SoCs.
- Improvements for Amlogic SoCs.
- Improvements for Samsung SoCs.
- Improvements for Qualcomm SoCs.
- Improvements for Mediatek SoCs.
- Improvements for other SoCs such as NVIDIA Tegra, NXP, Renesas, Texas Instruments, and also changes for the Raspberry Pi 4, correcting boot problems.
- RISC-V:
- In Linux 6.9, great efforts have been made to improve support for RISC-V, such as support for hibernation, vector acceleration, GUP, support for ACPI LPI and CPPC, etc.
- Improvements have also been added for specific chips such as Microchip, SiFive, Sophgo, StarFive, Alibaba T-head microcontrollers, etc. Some of them used in development boards such as the Beagle.
- MIPS:
- This other open ISA has also received changes in the Linux 6.9 kernel, such as improvements in the support of some SoCs based on it and correction of some errors.