Linux in 2021: News We Will See This Year in the Kernel

Linux in 2021

Linux has improved a lot throughout 2020. The OpenSource operating system has included over the past year a large number of changes, improvements and new features, especially drivers, which little by little have been adding importance to the kernel. However, the most veteran users expected that throughout 2020 other functions and features would arrive to the Kernel, changes that, after the closure of version 5.11 of the kernel, were left in the pipeline.

2021 is going to be a great year for Linux. It is difficult for this system to succeed in replacing Windows, neither in the workplace, much less in the video game sector. However, given the problems Windows is having lately, and how easy Linux distros are today, it’s very easy for many users to decide to give it a try. And even that they decide to continue using it in their day to day, as long as they do not have special needs.

Thus, the first half of 2021 will be marked, mainly, by these characteristics that were pending from last year. These will make Linux much easier and more comfortable to use, prompting people to give it a try.

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Expected news that we will see in Linux in 2021

One of the most anticipated news is PREEMPT_RT . What is this? This kernel module seeks to bring real-time updates to the kernel. Thanks to them, we can update only certain parts of the kernel without having to reinstall it completely every time there are new versions of it. This would allow us to have a kind of Kernel Rolling Release, implementing changes as soon as they are available without changing the version. One of the most anticipated, and most delayed functions, that we hope will come true in 2021.

We also expect to see changes to the file systems . On the one hand, the first thing we expect to see is support for Reiser5, the successor to Reiser4, which arrived at the end of 2020 and did not have time to be included in version 5.11. We also hope to see native support for the Bcachefs filesystem soon. And finally, we also hope that a new NTFS driver, created and released by Paragon Software, will be included in the Kernel soon, which improves speed, performance and reliability to the current NTFS-3G when opening Windows NTFS drives in Linux.

Other important changes can be found around Linux games . FUTEX2, on the one hand, is a new system call proposed by Valve to significantly improve the operation of SteamPlay and Proton, to be able to run Windows games on Linux. Work is also underway to improve Intel‘s Multi-GPU support, which is currently a fudge and will allow better use of the more powerful GPU when playing games or editing video. And finally, Microsoft‘s DXGKRNL driver will allow DirectX to be used on Linux almost officially.

Finally, at the end of 2020 Sony released a new module for the Kernel with the official drivers for the PS5 controller . It came very close and did not have time to include it in version 5.11.

Kernel 5.11 is now RC2

In the final stretch of 2020 we saw how the new version of the Kernel , 5.11, reached its Release Candidate phase. This means that your development phase reaches the end and the debugging phase begins. Over the next few weeks, different Release Candidates will be released that will shape the new version of this kernel until, in mid-February, this version reaches the stable phase.

Linux 5.11 will not bring any of the changes that we have seen in this article, since its features are closed. But they are already working so that, as of 5.12, we can see these characteristics. Now we just have to wait and see what 2021 holds for our favorite penguin.