Pop!_OS Upgrades To The Linux 6.8 Kernel

Besides its desktop-level customizations, further differentiating System76's Pop!_OS Linux distribution from its Ubuntu LTS package base is the tendency to roll down newer versions of the upstream Linux kernel once validated across System76's portfolio of laptops and desktops. The latest on that front is Pop!_OS now shipping with the fresh Linux 6.8 stable series.

Pop!_OS with the latest package updates is now using the Linux 6.8 kernel, which delivers many exciting improvements and optimizations. There's new hardware support, the experimental Intel Xe graphics driver, various performance optimizations, and more.

Making this Linux 6.8 upgrade all the more significant is that Pop!_OS had skipped over using Linux 6.7 due to encountering some regressions on their hardware that have since been fixed for the v6.8 series. So all of the Linux 6.7 features are new as well to Pop!_OS users like the experimental Bcachefs file-system, NVIDIA GSP support in Nouveau, Radeon graphics driver improvements, and more.

It's great seeing System76 continually shipping new Linux kernel releases where appropriate for Pop!_OS users and pays off for performance and features especially for newer platforms like the Thelio Major powered by the Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series -- fresh benchmarks there coming up shortly.