The Big Features Of The Linux 4.1 Kernel

If all goes well, the Linux 4.1 kernel will be released before the day is over. Linux 4.1 is yet another exciting update and here's a look at some of the most prominent work found in this new kernel version.

Some of our highlights for the Linux 4.1 kernel include:

- Significant performance improvements for certain hardware as well as power consumption/efficiency improvements for select Intel hardware.

- Nouveau ships with GeForce GTX 750 acceleration support that doesn't require the manual extracting/setup of any non-redistributable firmware blobs.

- Intel XenGT vGPU support for those wanting Intel graphics acceleration support from Xen guests. The KVM support is still being developed.

- Radeon DisplayPort MST support.

- EXT4 file-system encryption thanks to work done by Google in looking to add file-system-level EXT4 encryption for Android.

- Better RAID 5/6 support with MD RAID.

- Improved laptop support from major vendors along with better Chromebook Pixel 2 support.

- Continued bring-up of Intel Skylake support within Linux. Skylake is still on course for launching later this year.

- ACPI support for AArch64 / 64-bit ARM.

- Many other changes.

The rack with many of our daily kernel test systems.

Linux 4.1 has shaped up nicely and is performing well as with the many daily Git kernel benchmarks happening every morning at LinuxBenchmarking.com. Linux 4.1 is a great release but Linux 4.2 is next and new features are on the way.