Today marks the release of Linux kernel 5.17. Doesn’t seem to offer much of anything in the gaming landscape, but there’s hardware support for a bunch of new motherboards and processors.

Here’s a basic rundown of what’s new:

  • support for AMD’s new P-State driver for AMD Zen 2 APUs – this is particularly good news for the Steam Deck as that is the APU it’s using and P-State delivers better power efficiency.
  • initial Intel Raptor Lake/Raptor Lake S/Alder Lake N support
  • Intel AMX support in KVM virtualization
  • the StarFive JH7100 is the very first RISC-V platform to get Linux support with this kernel
  • faster boot times on AMD Fusion APUs with Hudson D4 chipsets
  • lighting and fan control support for the NZXT controller nzxt fan controller Image credit: Phoronix
  • better support for x86-based Android tablets, along with general laptop and tablet driver improvements
  • support for older Tegra-based tablets
  • support for privacy screens which are integrated in newer laptops
  • general graphics and display driver updates
  • F2FS, EXT4, BTRFS, and XFS performance improvements
  • GameCube/Wii/Wii U real-time clock driver support – allows people to run Linux on these devices
  • Intel Wi-Fi driver improvements
  • General network performance improvements
  • A lot of other stuff

Check Phoronix for more details as to what was added to kernel 5.17.