Linux 5.1 will come with Intel graphics, virtual memory support, and more

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The team at Linux has put in a lot of efforts on Linux RC 5.1. Last week, Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, announced that the two-week long merge window for Linux 5.1 is finally coming to an end. The first Release Candidate of Linux kernel 5.1 is finally ready for testing.

Let’s have a look at the changes and new features which will be coming in Linux RC 5.1.

What’s expected in Linux RC 5.1?

Intel graphics

With this release, the Intel Fastboot is enabled by default. The Intel graphics driver eliminates unnecessary mode-set operations at boot-time by default. The ones on older Intel graphics can still toggle the feature with the i915.fastboot=1 kernel parameter. Fastboot comes with a clean, flicker-free Linux boot experience. This release comes with Intel HDCP 2.2 support. There is an added support for Coffeelake GVT for Intel’s graphics virtualization tech.

Virtual memory support

This release comes with Nouveau DRM driver that has heterogeneous memory management hook-ups, which provides shared virtual memory support. This release comes with support for AMDGPU Vega 10/20 BACO and other Vega enhancements. There is a new DRM driver in this release known as the Arm Komeda display driver.

Added Support

This release comes with Support for the Bitmain SoC as a dual-core A53 combined with a single RISC-V core. This release comes with new Arm support including the Socionext Milbeaut, NXP i.MX8QuadXPlus, and a few Rensas SoCs.

New accelerator

This release comes with Habana Labs Goya accelerator along with its new driver. A new accelerator subsystem is expected in the Linux kernel. The accelerator is based on AI having open-source, mainline kernel support.