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Graphics Power Upgrades Linux

Linux 3.13 Kernel To Bring Major Feature Improvements 190

Posted by timothy from the this-is-only-the-free-version dept.
An anonymous reader writes "There's many improvements due in the Linux 3.13 kernel that just entered development. On the matter of new hardware support, there's open-source driver support for Intel Broadwell and AMD Radeon R9 290 'Hawaii' graphics. NFTables will eventually replace IPTables; the multi-queue block layer is supposed to make disk access much faster on Linux; HDMI audio has improved; Stereo/3D HDMI support is found for Intel hardware; file-system improvements are on the way, along with support for limiting the power consumption of individual PC components."
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Linux 3.13 Kernel To Bring Major Feature Improvements More

Linux 3.13 Kernel To Bring Major Feature Improvements

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  • So many improvements (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Friday November 15, 2013 @11:14PM (#45440803)

    So many improvements! Which proves that right now Linux must really suck. It's a good thing then, that Windows, FreeBSD, AIX, Solaris, etc etc can be counted on to suck far worse.

    • Re:So many improvements (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Runaway1956 ( 1322357 ) on Friday November 15, 2013 @11:34PM (#45440881) Homepage Journal

      Mehhh. I used to update my kernel as quickly as possible when they promised major improvements. It always turns out that a "major improvement" is actually an "incremental improvement". I lost the excitement over kernel upgrades some time ago. I still upgrade from time to time, but my attention is more focused on security than any supposed "improvements". I don't want to be the odd guy who is caught with some vulnerability that was fixed eight versions ago. Two versions, maybe - but eight? Nope, no way! That would be just to embarrassing.

      • Security fix backports (Score:5, Insightful)

        by tepples ( 727027 ) <tepplesNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday November 15, 2013 @11:44PM (#45440931) Homepage Journal

        I still upgrade from time to time, but my attention is more focused on security than any supposed "improvements". I don't want to be the odd guy who is caught with some vulnerability that was fixed eight versions ago.

        Some Linux distributors, instead of providing a new kernel that may break old applications or devices, instead backport security fixes to an old kernel.

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I still upgrade from time to time, but my attention is more focused on security than any supposed "improvements". I don't want to be the odd guy who is caught with some vulnerability that was fixed eight versions ago.

          Some Linux distributors, instead of providing a new kernel that may break old applications or devices, instead backport security fixes to an old kernel.

          The Ubuntu LTS+HWE model is interesting; you can basically install the kernel from Ubuntu 12.10, 13.04, or 13.10 on your 12.04 LTS system.

        • a kernel update should never, ever break the user space. period.

      • when I used normal video hardware, I could upgrade kernels all I wanted.

        with stupid fucking nvidia (binary blobs) I am stuck at their mercy. 3.11 was a hard one for nvidia (nothing worked out of the box and needed work-arounds) and of course NV was slow as hell to do their own update.

        its a laptop so I can't swap out the video card. I hate nvidia and their closed source driver. nouveau is not working for me as I need multiple displays (external dvi pairs) and so I'm stuck with the nv binary driver.

        when th

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by TCM ( 130219 )

          Sounds awesome - and you're not even running any applications yet. Some people just don't have that amount of time to piss away, though.

          • That's just for binary crap drivers. Most people don't need them, and just use the open source ones. 0 time spent dealing with them with any upgrade.

            • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

              by jedidiah ( 1196 )

              ...or you just wait awhile.

              It's not Windows. You don't have to be running the very latest version just to avoid being owned and infected. The same goes for any operating system that's not from Microsoft.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gmack ( 197796 )

          I had the same problem with the Nvidia drivers but 3.12 was such a large difference on my other systems that I spent the time and patched the Nvidia drivers myself using patches I found using a Google search "Nvidia Linux 3.1.2".

          You should be able to do the same but if you get stuck, feel free to contact me for help.

        • As you build your own kernels instead of using distro-provided binaries, what's the reason to not skip a release you don't like? 3.11 breaks VirtualBox, it works fine both with 3.10 and 3.12-rc (and now with 3.12.0). A regression that lasts is bad, one that has been fixed in a later version means just "please upgrade".

      • bcache is a HUGE improvement for some workloads (Score:5, Interesting)

        by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Saturday November 16, 2013 @01:20AM (#45441313) Journal

        Bcache, merged in 3.11, improves IO up to 100X. Not 100%, 100X, or 10,000%. It may well be worth an upgrade if you're running a distro 2.3x and have random IO on multi TB storage.

        • Bcache, merged in 3.11, improves IO up to 100X. Not 100%, 100X, or 10,000%. It may well be worth an upgrade if you're running a distro 2.3x and have random IO on multi TB storage.

          The multi-queue block layer [phoronix.com] which is merged in kernel 3.13 gives a 3.5x to 10x increase in IOPS. This change is mostly targeted for SSDs, but gives similar improvements on HDs as well. However, it's not clear whether this improvement is relative to 3.11 or not.

        • 100X == 100X
          100X == 10,000%
          100X != 100%

          I must have missed the point raymorris was trying to make...

    • That is some of the most absurd thinking I have ever heard. The fact that things improve and get better does not mean that things are bad as they are now. These new features are additions to an already great product. Linux as it is is already better than Windows, so the new features will make it better still. Notice as well, that each Windows realese always comes with a long list of improvements from the last version. The whole purpose of having new versions is to improve things and add new capability. Had

    • Note: My 2nd desktop is Linux 3.5 + GTX Titan + 16 GB @ 2560x1440 and love it for development.

      You are missing one thing:

      *BSD's pf focuses on getting it right instead of Linux always re-inventing some half-assed packet filtering every few years. I find *BSD to focus on stability and Linux to focus on flavor-of-the-month re-implementation of features. i.e. Leading Edge vs Bleeding Edge.

      My Win7 box has been reduced to just gaming (aka Steam) but I prefer OSX or Linux for development and CUDA research.

    • Exactly, Linux seems to get the green light whenever it comes out, any attempt to point out any disadvantage especially with such systems such as windows would mark you as a troll. However you can bash windows all day, and keep getting mod points.

      I Like Linux, it is a good OS. But it isn't perfect, and if they spent less time on evangelicalism and more on being rational and seeing the issues and improving them, then we could get a really good OS.

      I have had and reported a lot problems with Linux in the pas

  • Intel support is stellar this time. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by deviated_prevert ( 1146403 ) on Friday November 15, 2013 @11:36PM (#45440889) Journal
    Considering that the 14NM Broadwell chips are not scheduled to ship till the second quarter of 2014. With support for power saving per component coming along it looks like using the Linux kernel on laptops will also be much more inviting. It is all well and good that the advances in the kernel hardware support are keeping pace with what Microsoft is doing. I am still eagerly awaiting a great high end powerhouse Linux laptop. As it is the old IBM T42 non-pae clunker that I am writing this on is still very usable but if a company ever finally does ship an OS agnostic laptop with high specs I will jump at the chance.

    The temperatures in hell are dropping but I am not going to hold my breath as Windows still holds the retailers and manufacturers by the balls to say the least. However with both Intel and AMD actively supporting the Linux kernel this quickly for their most important product lines perhaps a manufacturer like Samsung or Lenovo might actually try to market a real full blown Linux based device for a change instead of just dabbling in Android consumer craptronic devices.

    • I'm not sure what you require for high specs, but System76 has some decent 'gaming class' laptops that might fit the bill. Their Bonobo 17" maxed out a pretty decent machine, though quite heavy for a laptop.

    • [...] the old IBM T42 non-pae clunker that I am writing this on is still very usable

      Out of curiosity, which distro do you run on that machine? I'm asking this question because distros that do not have PAE as a requirements are rare birds, so to speak.

    • My thoughts exactly, as I type this on a slightly more modern T60p, after my I dropped my T40 and sheared off the hinge last year.

      To be honest, I'd be happy if Lenovo would simply sell a laptop without an OS if that's easier for them.

      D

    • Considering that the 14NM Broadwell chips are not scheduled to ship till the second quarter of 2014. With support for power saving per component coming along it looks like using the Linux kernel on laptops will also be much more inviting. It is all well and good that the advances in the kernel hardware support are keeping pace with what Microsoft is doing. I am still eagerly awaiting a great high end powerhouse Linux laptop. As it is the old IBM T42 non-pae clunker that I am writing this on is still very usable but if a company ever finally does ship an OS agnostic laptop with high specs I will jump at the chance.

      The temperatures in hell are dropping but I am not going to hold my breath as Windows still holds the retailers and manufacturers by the balls to say the least. However with both Intel and AMD actively supporting the Linux kernel this quickly for their most important product lines perhaps a manufacturer like Samsung or Lenovo might actually try to market a real full blown Linux based device for a change instead of just dabbling in Android consumer craptronic devices.

      Do you want manufacturers and vendors onside? What does it take? It takes some free code and the right to add $100.00US per system. The manufacturer and the retailer need that to cover returns, repairs, some Geek staff and profits.

      Would I pay $100.00 for a fully pre-installed system that works (graphics, sound, network, security, and user software selection), as an off-the shelf package? I guess I would! When I look at the time I spend on a downloads, on testing patches, and rebuilding my test Linux, I

  • Right... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 15, 2013 @11:47PM (#45440947)

    This is just a cash grab by the Linux developers.

  • sure i'll tear out my video card, fork over cash and put in a better supported one but which is best supported now?! they improved the Intel, AMD and NVidia video card drivers! dammit, cant they just improve one video card driver at a time?!

    will these first world problems never end?!

  • Oh God that is one hilarious ad landing page. Well worth the click to earn your innovation protection badge!
  • What's not mentioned in the news article is that the most important updates to Nouveau are being posted in the 3.13 kernel. There's going to be Power Management support for most current generation graphics cards. This is a huge thing. Performance wise it is going to lead to a massive jump in performance on the Nouveau drivers. The only other outstanding parts of nouveau are the OpenCL support, and the SLI support. After this update it should be possible to use the nouveau drivers for a lot more serious 3d w

  • The kernel is now done. It has been done for years. Of course new hardware comes and needs to be supported. But everything in that department is rolling quite nicely. The kernel guys know what they are doing. The Linux kernel is stable and if a problem pops up, it gets fixed.

    So these days the kernel is a nice black box which I don't have to worry about. Now, fix the desktop. That's where the interesting stuff is happening. Fix the terrible performance problems and lack of configurability of Unity. Make a ri [thewindowsplanet.com]

    • Not only is the kernel never done, but the GUI is worked on by completely different people. I don't know the name of your logical fallacy, but I like to call it the GNOME and KDE fallacy in nerdland. If all those people just worked on one DE, it would be great right? No, it would suck horribly. Too many cooks with their own ideas. But you're even farther off the mark because you want people who like to write kernel code to write application code. That's like asking a cabinet maker to build you a house... or

      • I'm not asking the kernel guys to write the desktop software. :D I just wish the desktop stack had a similar level of quality to the kernel.

    • I would say "Get off that 'buntu junk and onto any real Linux distro"... but then I'd get modded Troll.

      Honestly, it seems like every time there's a Linux story on /. these days, half the posts are complaints specific to Ubuntu.

      If you don't want to fight your system/desktop, use a different one. I suggest CentOS with Window Maker DE for you guys. (I use OpenSUSE/KDE4 myself, just so you know.)

      You use Linux because Linux means you've the freedom to choose, right?

      SO QUIT BITCHING,
      AND START SWITCHING!

  • BTRFS stable when (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Eravnrekaree ( 467752 ) on Saturday November 16, 2013 @08:59AM (#45442265)

    When is BTRFS finally going to be declared stable and become default on major distros? Its features were needed years ago. The Copy on Write features are killer features that have been needed on Linux for years, such as to implement a filesystem level versioning, system restore an restore point feature and improved snapshot features. Ext4 is only a stop-gap and Ext is really starting to show its age.

    • When is BTRFS finally going to be declared stable and become default on major distros? Its features were needed years ago. The Copy on Write features are killer features that have been needed on Linux for years, such as to implement a filesystem level versioning, system restore an restore point feature and improved snapshot features. Ext4 is only a stop-gap and Ext is really starting to show its age.

      SUSE13.1 is saying that BTRFS is suitable for home use. They see no problems in a desktop or non-banking industry environment. Ditto for Mint16, and Fedora20. Btrfs is here to enjoy. But... for most work that I do, ext4 provides faster I/O. I timed it so I know so.

  • the multi-queue block layer is supposed to make disk access much faster on Linux

    What do you mean by "much faster"? Have we been chugging along in the slow lane all these years?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by higuita ( 129722 )

      until now, you only had one IO queue, taken care by a single CPU (even if your machine had hundred of cpus). For slow HD, it didn't matter much, as the bottleneck was usually the HD (unless you had huge array of disks). with SSD you can hit the cpu limit, trying to process all those request. with this patch, you get one queue per cpu, so you increase a lot the parallelism of IO on high speed IO devices.

      For home users, it probably will not do much difference, as they don't usually have big IO setups, but for

  • I wonder when the deficiencies [wikipedia.org] in SSD TRIM support will be fixed. I don't think there's still any distro which enables discard support automatically in fstab.

  • The problem is with the definition of major. There are almost never minor improvements to the kernel, using conventional ideas of major and minor. Ergo, these terms need updating or removing. They serve no useful function in the context of the Linux kernel.

  • It seems kernel releases are becoming more frequent. One thing I did not see in the article (unless I read right over it), is when this kernel is supposed to be released. Does anyone have a clue or can you point me in the right direction?

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