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Linux 4.5 Adds Raspberry Pi 2 Support, AMD GPU Re-Clocking, Intel Kaby Lake (phoronix.com)
The Linux 4.5 merge window has been open for the last two weeks; that means that the 4.5-rc1 kernel is expected to emerge, with the official kernel following in about eight weeks. An anonymous reader writes with this top-level list of changes to look for, from Phoronix: Linux 4.5 is set to bring many new features across the kernel's 20 million line code-base. Among the new/improved features are Raspberry Pi 2 support, open-source Raspberry Pi 3D support, NVIDIA Tegra X1 / Jetson TX1 support, an open-source Vivante graphics driver, AMDGPU PowerPlay/re-clocking support, Intel Kaby Lake enablement, a Logitech racing wheel driver, improvements for handling suspended USB devices, new F2FS file-system features, and better Xbox One controller handling.
I really like where the Linux kernel is headed. We're seeing some great improvements and innovations being made. But the kernel alone isn't useful. It needs an init system and userspace programs, too.
The fact that all of the major Linux distros now use systemd is a huge problem. Many Linux users just cannot use systemd. They can't risk the problems it brings. When we read through the mailing list archives and bug tracker reports of the major distros we find far too many problems involving systemd. Many times these problems are downright stupid, or reflect the architectural flaws of systemd. Systemd's use of binary logging is one of the most obvious problems with it.
So now many Linux users are left in a lurch. They can continue to use old, pre-systemd versions of their distros of choice, but these are typically no longer supported and don't receive critical security updates. This is not a tenable option, of course. They can try to use the new, systemd versions of their distros of choice, but these run the serious risk of not booting properly. This also is not a tenable option. Finally, they can try to use Slackware, Gentoo, or some other obscure Linux distro. Yet again, this is not a tenable option, as they don't want to use a non-major distro. Unfortunately for the Linux kernel, the only option these users have is to move to FreeBSD, or sometimes OpenBSD.
The Linux kernel itself is great, but its supporting ecosystem has become truly awful lately. There are people who'd love to use the kernel, but this problematic supporting ecosystem, namely systemd, means that the kernel just isn't usable.