14 DAY TRIAL // Here we go again with another nice and full of features Linux kernel version, baked and delivered hot and fresh last night, February 24th, by Linus Torvalds. Linux Kernel 2.6.33 brings the highly anticipated Nouveau open source video driver for Nvidia graphics cards. Among other features, we can notice Compcache, support for the Gamecube and Nintendo Wii consoles, DRDB, improvements to perf, Xen PV-on-HVM guests support, and drivers for VMWare.
However, today is a very sad day for Android users (including myself), as the bits for the Android platform have been completely removed from the Linux kernel 2.6.33! We have no idea if it will be back in future releases or if Google will release their own kernel sources. Until then, Android 2.1 users have to play with Linux kernel 2.6.29.6, and Android 1.6 users with Linux kernel 2.6.27.
"This version features Nouveau (a reverse-engineered driver for Nvidia graphic cards), Nintendo Wii and Gamecube support, DRDB (Distributed Replicated Block Device), a security extension for TCP called 'cookie transactions,' a syscall for batching recvmsg() calls, several new perf subcommands (perf probe, perf bench, perf kmem, perf diff), support for cache compression, Xen PV-on-HVM support, drivers for virtual network and graphic cards from VMWare, swappable KSM pages, and many new drivers and many small improvements and bugfixes." - was stated in the official release announcement.
Highlights of Linux Kernel 2.6.33:
· Nouveau open source Nvidia video driver; · DRDB (Distributed Replicated Block Device); · Better Perf: perk kmem, perf probe, perf bench, perf perl, perf diff filters and scripts; · Added recvmmsg(), a syscall to batch recvmsg() calls; · TCP Cookie Transactions; · Xen PV-on-HVM guests support; · Swappable KSM (Kernel Samepage Merging) pages; · Block IO controller; · Compcache; · Graphic improvements; · Support for Gamecube and Nintendo Wii; · Drivers for VMware; · Reiserfs de-BKLification.
Below, we've compiled a list with the latest drivers and newly supported devices introduced in Linux Kernel 2.6.33:
· Support for Ashai Kasei ak4113; · Support for Infrasonic Quartet; · Added SuperH DAC audio driver; · Support for SPEA Media FX/Reveal SC-600; · Support for Roland UA-1G; · Support for ALC892/888VD and ALC661/259; · Support for 27" iMacs; · Support for Raumfeld audio; · Support for OMAP3517 / AM3517 EVM; · Support for WM8727 DAC; · Added ADS117x ADC driver; · Added TPA6130A2 amplifier driver.
USB:
· Multifunction Composite Gadgets support; · Added OMAP ehci-hcd driver; · Device ID support for Apple Cinema Display 23"; · Xilinx USB host controller support.
Input:
· Davinci Keypad Driver; · Altera PS/2 controller driver; · Dynapro serial touchscreen driver; · mc13783 touchscreen driver; · S3C24XX touchscreen driver; · ADP5520 MFD PMICs driver; · ET&T TC5UH touchscreen controller support; · Zytronic capacitive touchscreen support; · Support for new Wacom LCD tablets.
HWMON:
· AMD Family 10h/11h CPUs driver; · National Semiconductor LM73 driver; · VIA CPU core temperature driver; · Freescale MC13783 ADC driver.
· Improved the i915 Intel video driver; · Improved the Radeon video driver; · Blackfin Landscape LCD EZ-Extender driver; · Improved OMAP.
V4L/DVB:
· Omnivision OV9640 sensor driver; · E3C EC100 DVB-T demodulator driver; · E3C EC168 DVB USB driver; · Sharp RJ54N1CB0C camera sensor driver; · Asus Europa Hybrid DVB-T card support; · OV3610 and OV2610 sensors support; · TEF6862 tuner support; · Leadtek DTV1000S support; · MSI Starcam 370i webcams support; · Added Digital TV support for Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1290; · Sveon STV20 Tuner USB DVB-T HDTV support; · Maxium MAX2165 silicon tuner support; · Altobeam ATBM8830 GB20600-2006(DMB-TH) demodulator support; · Mygica X8558pro DMB-TH support; · Support for Mygica D689 DMB-TH USB; · Prof 7301 PCI DVB-S2 card support; · em2800 VC211A card support; · Dib0090 tuner driver.
Network:
· Intel Wireless Multicom 3200 driver; · Octeon MGMT device ETH driver; · Intel Wifi/WiMAX Link 6050 support.
These are just a few of the new drivers available in the Linux kernel 2.6.33. For a complete list of all the newly supported devices, newly added drivers, etc., please visit the official release notes page.
You can download the 2.6.33 Linux kernel sources right now from Softpedia.