Enlarge / And there was much rejoicing, as a new Linux kernel version had arrived before its founder ran out of fingers and toes for counting. (credit: Getty Images)
A stable version of Linux 6.0 is out, with 15,000 non-merge commits and a notable version number for the kernel. And while major Linux releases only happen when the prior number’s dot numbers start looking too big—”there is literally no other reason“—there are a lot of notable things rolled into this release besides a marking in time.
Most notable among them could be a patch that prevents a nearly two-decade slowdown for AMD chips, based on workaround code for power management in the early 2000s that hung around for far too long. Intel’s Dave Hansen wrote the patch that made it into 6.0, noting in a comment on an Ars post that the issue had become an expensive drain as AMD systems gained higher CPU core counts. The average desktop user won’t see huge gains, but larger systems working on intensive input/output applications should benefit.
Intel’s new Arc GPUs are supported in their discrete laptop form in 6.0 (though still experimental). Linux blog Phoronix notes that Intel’s ARC GPUs all seem to run on open source upstream drivers, so support should show up for future Intel cards and chipsets as they arrive on the market.
