Announcement: Genode OS Framework version 21.08 released

[Norman Feske]

I'm happy to announce the release of Genode version 21.08.

  https://genode.org/news/genode-os-framework-release-21.08

The most prominent topics of the new version are GPU support and a fresh
approach for porting device-driver code from the Linux kernel to Genode.

Up to now, the use of hardware-accelerated graphics has remained a mere
experimentation ground for Genode. As such, GPUs remain unused by Sculpt
OS. The current release aims to change that, setting the goal of making
GPUs a commodity feature of Genode-based systems. This line of work
comprises a largely improved version of our custom GPU multiplexer for
Intel GPUs, a novel way of decoupling the display driver from the GPU
driver, and a revamped Mesa library stack.

The second major topic is a new device-driver environment (DDE) for
executing unmodified Linux driver code as Genode components. With the
re-imagined DDE introduced by Genode 21.08, the porting of such drivers
takes only a fraction of time compared to our previous porting efforts.

A quick summary of the current release:

- Linux-device-driver environment re-imagined
- New device drivers
  - i.MX8mq framebuffer driver
  - i.MX8mq SD-card driver
  - Pinephone framebuffer
  - Pine-A64-LTS networking driver
  - RAM framebuffer driver for Qemu
- Revived GPU support
  - Mesa 21.0.0
  - Architectural integration of GPU multiplexing
- Refined user-level network routing
- Updated and improved VirtualBox
- Media playback and SSL validation for Qt5 and QtWebEngine
- Modular integration of LTE modem stack in Sculpt OS
- Tool-chain support for RISC-V

The detailed release documentation is available here:

  https://genode.org/documentation/release-notes/21.08

Have fun with exploring the new version!

Norman

-- 
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs

https://www.genode-labs.com · https://genode.org

Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth