Lots of new features for Linux 4.15, From USB Type-C to AMD Zen CPU temperatures
The window for the inclusion of patches in Linux 4.15 is open and there are many new features. among the main ones, the arrival of the reading of the temperatures of the AMD Zen CPUs, the support of the AMD Vega GPUs and the USB Type-C ports.
Linux 4.15 promises to be one of the most interesting releases of the kernel of recent times, especially given the amount of news for newer computers. With this, version will come support for the reading of the temperatures of the AMD Zen family and a nearly complete management of USB Type-C ports.
The hwmon k10temp driver, which allows access to the temperatures of the AMD Zen processors (Ryzen, Threadripper, EPYC) through tools like XSensors, is actually ready from September, but will only be included in Linux 4.15. The request for inclusion in the next version has been advanced, together with the new AMDGPU DC display stack – which, among other things, brings with it support for the Vega GPUs.
Support for the USB Type-C standard also sees many new features with the 4.15 kernel: the Type-C Port Manager (TCPM) provides port roles management with the new standard, allowing you to manage particular modes such as USB power. Drivers can then use this handler to set the behavior of the ports by enabling or disabling features and so on.
Although there are so many important news, long-term support has gone to the 4.14 kernel. This could cause some problems for distributions like Ubuntu 18.04: given the need to support the widest possible hardware park, the use of Linux 4.15 seems obligatory, but the lack of long-term support for the latter may prove problematic in the management updates.
It will indeed be necessary to port these changes from Linux 4.14 or later versions to 4.15, which will take away resources that could have been dedicated to other things if Linux 4.15 had received the status of LTS.
