Linux kernel version 7.1 became available on June 15 as a major feature update in the 7.x series. The release includes several hardware and performance improvements for users of Intel and AMD systems.
The new kernel follows Linux 7.0 from April. It enables Intel's Flexible Return and Event Delivery technology by default after prior testing on available hardware.
A new NTFS driver reached the mainline kernel after four years of development. Linus Torvalds described the merge as the "NTFS resurrection" after addressing a Git structure issue.
Additional changes include updates to the AMD-pstate and AMDGPU drivers, Zstd compression support for Intel QAT hardware, and official support for 12 new system-on-chips from vendors such as Qualcomm and Rockchip. The release also drops i486 CPU support and fixes an audio issue on the Steam Deck OLED.
Users of rolling-release distributions such as Arch Linux and Fedora are expected to receive the update soon, while others on Debian-based systems may need to wait.