Several improvements, including enhanced support for ARM laptops
Linus Torvalds has revealed the launch of Linux kernel 6.11, which will be utilized by Ubuntu 24.10 and Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS.
This release coincidentally happens just a few days before the Linux Kernel Maintainer Summit in Vienna, Austria. Announcing on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, Torvalds mentioned:
“I’m currently traveling and not in my usual timezone, however it’s Sunday afternoon here in Vienna, and 6.11 has been released”, and he encourages kernel developers to “test the newest version” before the start of the 6.12 merge window the following day.
For a quick overview of the key updates in this release, continue reading.
As usual, every new Linux kernel update includes support preparations for upcoming hardware from leading companies like Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. However, since many of these updates are for products not yet on the market, they won’t affect most of us immediately, and therefore, I’ll not dwell on them here.
Essentially, it often boils down to basic updates: “…now we have support for temperature sensors on a GPU that won’t be available for another 11 months, and sound support for a CPU that will be released in 2025” — it’s good to know, but somewhat expected.
What’s really significant are the kernel updates that improve or fix issues for hardware currently available and in use. Those updates can have an immediate beneficial impact for users, making this kernel update particularly noteworthy.
Linux 6.11 now includes a feature in the AMD P-State driver for controlling AMD Core Performance Boost, enabling users to manage turbo and boost frequency ranges and adjust performance boost for each core individually. The latest Power Profiles Daemon update appears ready to support this functionality.
This new update of the AMD P-State driver not only brings control over AMD Core Performance Boost but also introduces AMD Fast CPPC, a power efficiency enhancement targeting the latest Ryzen (Zen 4) mobile processors. It boosts performance by 2-6%, depending on the task, without increasing power consumption.
Additionally, AES-GCM decryption and encryption operations are up to 160% faster on recent AMD and Intel processors, improvements driven by the same Google developer who enhanced AES-XTS performance in the Linux 6.10 kernel version.
There’s also support for running x86 kernels as a guest using AMD SEV-SNP encrypted virtualisation feature via KVM.
Aside from that bring up I said I’ll be skipping over, there’s a small clutch of interesting Intel changes this kernel for ‘Lunar Lake’ devices (which have just gone on sale), including perf subsystem support for the performance monitoring unit (PMU) on these chips.
Intel performance limit reasons reporting is now supported in user-space
Elsewhere, there’s a tweak to the TPMI driver to enable user-space (by way of DebugFS) Intel performance limit reasons reporting. This gives details on why a CPU core(s) is giving lower than expected performance levels.
I’m not sure if any Linux apps currently probe for this data but, presumably, now the kernel supports it, some soon will. Users familiar with HWiNFO on Windows might recognize this feature.
Additionally, Intel servers operating on Linux 6.11 can now utilize Sub-NUMA clustering to enhance performance for NUMA workloads, especially when Intel’s Resource Director Technology (RDT) is enabled. Previously, there was a conflict between the two technologies.
In terms of AI advancements, Linux 6.11 has improved support for Intel NPUs within Meteor Lake (and newer) chipsets. The in-kernel iVPU accelerator driver now supports both the hardware scheduler and profiling.
Furthermore, RISC-V introduces support for memory hot plugging in Linux 6.11, which applies to both physical and virtual environments.
While Linus Torvalds was working on the Linux kernel from his robust new ARM64 setup, he encountered some frustrations that have now been addressed. In a recent update, compressed kernel images can now be installed, not just built, along with enhancements supporting other specific issues.
Additionally, ARM64 has been upgraded to handle CPU hotplug capabilities on systems using ACPI, with documentation detailing: “CPU hotplug in the arm64 domain is typically described as the kernel’s ability to bring CPUs online or take them offline via PSCI.”
The RISC-V architecture finds enhanced functionality in the upcoming Linux 6.11 release, including support for memory hot plugging, several new ISA extensions, STACKLEAK security feature, preliminary NUMA support, console outputs, cache information for ACPI-reliant systems, among other miscellaneous updates.
Further, this kernel iteration provides compatibility with numerous ARM-based laptops.
The 2019 Lenovo Yoga C630 WOS, an early adaptor of the Windows on ARM utilizing a Snapdragon 850 SoC, receives a new embedded controller driver in the Linux 6.11 release. This enhancement is tailored to provide better support for battery and power supply management among other functionalities.
Continuing with ARM technology, Linux 6.11 introduces support for two Snapdragon X1 Elite laptops, named “Copilot+”. These are the ASUS VivoBook S 15 and the Lenovo Slim 7x. However, it’s noted that numerous essential hardware aspects, such as USB ports, are not fully supported yet.
For those using Linux on a Chromebook, like myself, the update to Linux kernel 6.11 introduces expanded mainline support specifically for Chrome OS devices by introducing new drivers.
One of the new drivers, cros_ec_hwmon, is specifically designed to monitor fan speeds and temperatures in newer Chromebook models. It operates through the ChromeOS Embedded Controller (CrOS EC), which is also utilized in some models of the Framework 13 AMD laptops.
The latest cros_charge-control driver introduced supports the ability to set charging limits through CrOS EC. It utilizes sysfs at the user-space level, which means that charge thresholds can potentially be adjusted on Chromebooks and Framework 13 laptops by Linux distributions or desktop environments that support such configurations.
Owners of Framework 13 laptops might be interested to learn that the Linux 6.11 update includes a ChromeOS EC LED driver that enables the management of multi-color LEDs in response to different events and inputs.
In addition, the new updates in the Linux kernel provide support for various devices, including fan control on newer Dell devices (like laptops and all-in-ones), the Raspberry Pi PiSP camera, Realtek RTL8192DU USB Wi-Fi adapters, and the Thrustmaster TCA Yoke Boeing joystick.
For graphic designers, animators, and digital artists who utilize Linux for their creative processes, there are now enhanced opportunities with the addition of powerful open-source tools such as Krita and Blender.
Enjoy drawing on budget-friendly tablets such as the Huion Inspiroy 2 S, Dial 2, and the XP-PEN Deco Mini 4, now fully compatible with the new Linux 6.11 right out of the box.
Additionally, the LWN merge summary for Linux 6.11 provides an excellent overview of the latest version’s major features, with thorough explanations and links to detailed articles and specific code commits.
Linux 6.11 brings significant improvements in infrastructure, security, performance, and extended hardware compatibility.
Wondering how to upgrade to or install Linux kernel 6.11?
You can opt to compile the Linux kernel source code yourself, or you might have to wait for your specific Linux distribution to add this update to their software updates — though not all distributions provide this service.
Ubuntu 24.10 will include the Linux kernel 6.11 by default, and through the HWE, the Linux kernel 6.11 will also be made available for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS early in the coming year.
Several Linux blogs suggest installing Canonical mainline kernel builds for those using Ubuntu. However, these builds are typically not suitable for general users as they are not signed, might not boot, do not receive security updates, and could be missing Ubuntu-specific enhancements or fixes.
Nevertheless, many individuals still utilize these builds—have you tried them? Share your experience in the comments—so if there’s a particular feature or fix in Linux 6.11 that you need promptly, these pre-packaged DEBs might be an option to consider.
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