Linux kernel 2.6.27 was released last night by its father, Linus Torvalds - "So not a lot happened after -rc9, which is mostly good. I certainly don't want to have any upheavals at the end of an -rc series, although I wouldn't have minded more people looking at the regression list. That said, I think we're in pretty good shape, and it's not like I can hold back releases indefinitely anyway." The new version brings improved support for many webcams, lots of new drivers and many other interesting features.

Highlights of Linux kernel 2.6.27:

· Lockless page cache and get_user_pages()
· Delayed allocation for Ext4 filesystem
· Kexec jump: kexec/kdump based hibernation
· OMFS and UBIFS
· Support for block layer data integrity
· Multiqueue networking
· Support for sysprof and ftrace
· Mmiotrace
· External firmware
· Better webcam support thanks to the gspca driver
· Extended file descriptor system calls
· Current and Voltage regulator

And now, let's have a look at some of the new drivers introduced in this release:

Networking:

· Added Atheros IEEE 802.11n driver
· Added Atheros L1E Gigabit Ethernet driver
· Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5000AGN support
· RTL8187B support
· Renesas SuperH Ethernet support

Sound:

· Added EM-X270 ASoC driver
· Added ALC663 support
· Added ASoC drivers
· Support for SGI HAL2 audio devices

V4L/DVB:

· Samsung DTOS403IH102A tuner support
· Added Anysee DVB-T/C receiver driver
· ATI TV Wonder HD 600 support
· Dvbworld DVB-S 2102 USB card support

Input:

· Added HTC Shift Touchscreen driver
· Added SGI O2 volume button driver
· Added Atmel touchscreen controller driver
· Added Macbook Air and Pro Penryn touchpad driver
· Added SuperH MigoR touchscreen driver

These are just a few of the new drivers available in the Linux kernel 2.6.27. To see a complete list of all the modifications, drivers, etc., please click here.

You can download the 2.6.27 Linux kernel source right now from Softpedia.