Linux 6.11 Kernel Features Deliver A Lot For New/Upcoming Intel & AMD Hardware
With all of the exciting hardware launches this summer, I'm a bit behind on writing my summary of the Linux 6.11 kernel features for that next kernel version due out in mid-September. But here it is with a concise look at all of the great Linux 6.11 features.
Linux 6.11 as often is the case each kernel cycle brings a lot of new improvements for recent/upcoming Intel and AMD platforms. There are big step forwards for AMD confidential computing, initial RDNA4 graphics support, new AMD P-State driver features, and much more on the AMD side. On the Intel side there is ongoing work around Xe2 graphics for Lunar Lake and Battlemage but not yet stable. Intel also has initial Panther Lake audio support, more NPU driver enhancements, and a range of other kernel additions to benefit their platforms.
Linux 6.11 also establishes a Rust minimum version moving forward for the Rust infrastructure, various new security improvements, several performance optimizations, and a lot of other new hardware supported.
Here's a look at what to expect from the Linux 6.11 kernel that will be debuting as stable around mid-September.
Graphics:
- Continued work on Xe driver support for upcoming Xe2 graphics both for Lunar Lake and Battlemage. There is initial Battlemage PCI IDs added and other bits for Linux 6.11. But both Lunar Lake and Battlemage graphics are still treated as experimental for Linux 6.11 and require using the "force_probe" override. The hope is the Lunar Lake support at least will be stable for Linux 6.12.
- AMD RDNA4 GPU enablement is initially in Linux 6.11. The support is prelimianry but decent enough in Linux 6.11, it appears. We'll ultimately see how the support is when RDNA4 graphics cards debut in the coming months and whether Linux 6.11 is a sufficient baseline or if 6.12+ is necessary, besides the latest Mesa. AMD GFX12 is enabled by default with the latest code as a good sign of the overall level.
- AMDGPU ISP 4.x IP support for the Image Signal Processing tech for laptops / web cameras.
- AMDGPU Hardware Replay to more easily reproduce GPU hangs and assist in debugging.
- Intel eDP Panel Replay support.
- Monochrome logo support for the DRM Panic infrastructure.
- Other open-source graphics driver improvements.
AI / Accel:
- Intel Gaudi 2D accelerator support.
- Intel NPU driver enhancements with the iVPU accel driver for Intel Meteor Lake, Arrow Lake, and Lunar Lake NPUs.
Processors:
- AMD Core Performance Boost handling is added to the AMD P-State driver.
- AMD Fast CPPC support to help with power-savings and power efficiency on capable SoCs.
- Support for AMD SEV-SNP guests with the mainline kernel.
- Intel Performance Limit Reasons for indicating via the TPMI driver and exposing to user-space via DebugFS why CPU cores are running at a reduced performance level.
- Much faster AES-GCM crypto performance for modern Intel and AMD processors with AVX-512/AVX10 and VAES optimized code.
- Intel Panther Lake audio support.
- Perf support for Intel Arrow Lake and Lunar Lake.
- Mobileye EyeQ 6H SoC support for that self-driving / automobile chip.
- Some ARM64 improvements thanks to Linus Torvalds himself and better handling compressed kernel images on ARM64.
- Intel Sub-NUMA Clustering (SNC) will stop misbehaving when used with Intel Resource Director Technology (RDT).
- New ISA extensions for RISC-V and initial NUMA support for ACPI-based RISC-V systems.
- More kernel features for LoongArch.