{"id":518,"date":"2024-03-10T22:04:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T22:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/unveiling-the-new-features-in-the-recently-released-linux-kernel-6-8\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T06:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T06:14:17","slug":"unveiling-the-new-features-in-the-recently-released-linux-kernel-6-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/unveiling-the-new-features-in-the-recently-released-linux-kernel-6-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Unveiling the New Features in the Recently Released Linux Kernel 6.8"},"content":{"rendered":"

After several solid months of development the Linux 6.8 kernel has been officially released.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This kernel is of particular note to Ubuntu users as it\u2019s the version chosen to ship in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS<\/a> \u2013 i.e., as the GA kernel and thereby supported for the duration of the release.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Announcing the release of Linux kernel 6.8 on the official Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) Linux founder Linus Torvalds says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the historically big release that 6.7 was \u2013 we seem to be back to a fairly average release size for the last few year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You can see it in the overall diffstats too \u2013 this looks like an average release in pretty much all respects, and we don\u2019t have (for example) any obvious big new filesystems or architectures. I think the biggest single new thing in 6.8 is probably the new Xe drm driver, but honestly, the big bulk of changes are just various random updates and fixes all over.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s new exactly?<\/p>\n

Linux 6.8: New Features<\/h2>\n

As you\u2019d expect, Linux kernel 6.8 includes plenty of prep, bring-up, and early enablement for hardware and hardware-enabled features most of us aren\u2019t currently<\/em> using.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This includes the experimental Intel Xe DRM driver Linus mentions in his release announcement, plus further support for AMD Zen 5 and other upcoming AMD hardware, initial code for Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (and related SoCs), and similar.<\/p>\n

But for me, the truly exciting Linux kernel changes are the ones I can feel, benefit from, or make use of myself right now.<\/p>\n

And thankfully Linux 6.8 comes with a bunch of them!<\/p>\n

Linux 6.8 adds Raspberry Pi 5 support to the V3D DRM driver, including GPUTop and FDINFO support. This means any distro offering Mesa 23.3 and Linux 6.8 will provide a solid graphics experience out-of-the-box on the Pi 5, no kernel patches required. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is expected to work perfectly on the Raspberry Pi 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Changes to the Intel P-State CPU frequency scaling driver will now allow devices powered by Intel \u2018Meteor Lake\u2019 CPUs (that were released late last year) to reach their stated \u2018boost\u2019 speeds on Linux. Previously, it was discovered<\/a> that they were operating approximately 100MHz below their potential.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hence, if your device of choice runs Linux, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12), Acer Swift Go 14, ASUS Expertbook B5, or any other laptop that uses Intel Core Ultra mobile processors, you can anticipate a slight performance increase during peak loads with the latest Linux kernel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As for portable devices, AMD Ryzen 7000 and the upcoming Ryzen 8000 series laptops previously had issues with radio frequency interference (RFI) from the Wi-Fi and GPU memory clocks. However, the Linux 6.8 is equipped with AMD RFI mitigations to address this problem.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Linux gaming enthusiasts would be pleased to know that Linux 6.8 now offers support for: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n