The Linux kernel is at the heart of countless devices and operating systems, including Android smartphones and tablets, Chromebooks, Linux desktop distributions, and more. Newer versions of the Linux kernel are usually released every few months, and version 5.16 is now available for testing.
XDA report, Linus Torvalds, The creator and main maintainer of the Linux kernel, wrote in the list of details of the new kernel of this operating system:
At the time of the release of version 5.16, we spent an extra week due to the holidays, and it’s not like we added a lot of last-minute features. Therefore, this version mainly includes some driver fixes (mainly network and rdma drivers), a cgroup credential correction, some main network fixes, some last minute restore, and some other minor fixes.
Perhaps the most important change in this version is the new kernel system called futex2, which stands for fast user mutex. This new kernel allows applications to generate semaphores, mutexes, conditional variables, and other synchronization mechanisms more quickly. The new feature can improve the performance of games that run on the Wine compatibility layer, as well as native Linux games. However, Wine has not yet implemented this feature; So, we have to wait and see what this new feature will do.
This version has a standard combination of hardware support, including support for controllers, Nintendo Switch and ProController, and Apple Magic Keyborad, which now work without any additional actions or drivers. AMD Graphics Driver now works with DisplayPort 2.0, which is rumored to be included in the upcoming Radeon graphics card. The new Linux kernel also stably supports Intel Alderlick S (DG1) graphics.
There are hundreds of other changes in this version that you can browse by visiting the Linux kernel website. The new Linux kernel will likely be released in the coming days as an update to some of the Linux desktop distributions. Of course, some operating systems and distributions, such as Ubuntu, will not currently receive this update. Not to mention that Canonical has not confirmed which version of Linux kernel will be used in the next Ubuntu 22.04 update.
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