| Linux 2.6.26 enhances desktop Linux |
Jul. 16, 2008
 A new stable kernel is out. Three months in the making, Linux 2.6.26 boasts read-only bind mounts, better USB webcam support, 802.11s mesh WiFi, virtualization and paravirtualization improvements, and a ton of new peripheral drivers.
(Click for larger graphical view of Linux 2.6.26)
The newest stable kernel release was announced by Linux originator Linus Torvalds last Sunday. It brings 330MB of source code, via a 48.3MB bzip2-compressed download. Salient for desktop Linux users are a host of "big ticket" feature additions, such as built-in support for 802.11s wireless mesh networking, better USB webcam support, a new x86 PAT (page attribute table) feature resembling MTRRs but more granular, and improved support for popular devices such as the OLPC and Asus EEE PC.
As usual, Kernel Newbies has published a detailed list of new features, here. Some of the more interesting items for desktop Linux users and developers include:- 802.11n improvements, and 802.11s mesh networking support via Open80211s
- Read-only bind mounts (story)
- Better documentation for real-time scheduling options
- Improved virtualization capabilities (running guest OSes on Linux's built-in KVM kernel virtual machine)
- Improved paravirtualization support (running Linux under KVM)
- Improvements in EXT4 (still an "experimental" feature)
In addition, the new kernel boasts a bevy of architecture-specific enhancements, including:- Explicit board support for:
- Tons of driver additions and improvements
- Radeon r500 and Radeon Mobility 9000 support
- Asus EEE PC power management features (base, backlight, hwmon fan control)
- Support for ICE1724 audio chips, used in high-end sound cards from M-Audio and others
- Support for eight-channel sound on Intel 8x0 onboard audio
- Support for new Wacom tablets, various Hauppauge TV and video capture cards, various USB-based broadband "modems", various new network chips, and other assorted drivers
- Via Isaiah patches for 64-bit compatibility mode
For a rundown of salient new features for device developers, check out similar coverage on our sister site, LinuxDevices, here.
As usual, the latest version of the kernel can be found by fingering linux at kernel.org, i.e. finger linux@kernel.org. The 2.6.26 kernel can be downloaded via ftp here (sig file here.) A complete changelog is here.
-- Henry Kingman
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