What's new in Linux kernel 2.6.29?

David M Williams
Monday, 30 March 2009 08:04

Opinion and Analysis

Moving onto video, kernel 2.6.29 brings a power shift, with the kernel now taking on integrated support for kernel-based mode settings for newer Intel graphics hardware.

This means that graphics hardware control functions previously performed by the X-Windows graphics system have been sidled over to the kernel.

The expectation is that kernel-based mode settings will obliterate a range of problems. For instance, the switch during boot from text console to graphics system will be faster and flicker-free. Additionally, the kernel will be responsible for refreshing screens when waking out of suspend mode. What’s more, the X server will no longer need to run as a privileged user because the kernel is doing all the low-level work instead.

However, like Btrfs, much of this work is still not ready for prime time. The big issue here is that the X server and the graphics driver must both support kernel mode settings for this all to work properly. Until new graphics card drivers come out it’s likely you won’t want to turn this on.

The WiFi stack now permits your Linux system to be used as an access point. Plug a Linux laptop into an existing network and open up WiFi for all to use! New ath5k, p54 and ath9k WiFi drivers ship with the kernel which makes this access point magic work.

Additionally, WiMAX wireless broadband  support – a previously independent - has now been integrated into the kernel. This provides a WiMAX network stack and support for Intel’s WiMAX Connection 2400 chip.

Effort has been expended in getting Linux to start faster. The work dubbed “Fastboot” aims to accelerate the kernel’s initialisation (which thus accelerates the whole boot process.)

This works by permitting the kernel to start up its subsystems asynchronously where possible. That is, it is no longer constrained to just starting one subsystem at a time, waiting for each to finish before moving on.

This has immediate payoff with I/O related subsystems in particular involving delays while waiting for hardware responses. These delays no longer hold up the next subsystem in the chain.

This work is foundational at the moment. By the next kernel release it will be in better shape and of wider benefit.

Overall, while the new kernel may receive most of its publicity from Tuz, there are many exciting things under the hood. It will still be some time before many of these make a difference to the lives of everyday users but they certainly set a clear direction for the immediate priorities of the Linux development team and in turn what you can expect to see in popular distros like Ubuntu.