Linux 5.6 kernel adds USB 4 and Wireguard support

Version 5.6 of the Linux kernel introduces support for USB 4. The new USB standard is based on Thunderbolt 3 and has a bandwidth of up to 40Gbit/s. In addition, the kernel will receive support for Wireguard. Linux 5.6 is expected in early 2020.

Although there is no stable version of the Linux 5.5 kernel yet, the first details about Linux 5.6 are already known, writes Phoronix. For example, the update adds support for the Wireguard protocol to the kernel. Wireguard should, among other things, offer better performance and a simpler user experience compared to OpenVPN. Also Intel Shared Virtual Memory is added in Linux 5.6. SVM will be used in Intel’s upcoming Xe GPUs.

The specifications of usb 4 were officially announced in early September by USB-IF, the organization behind the connection. USB 4 is based on Intel’s Thunderbolt standard. Intel made that standard royalty free earlier this year, allowing anyone to build on Thunderbolt technology, which is what USB-IF does. USB 4 offers a maximum bandwidth of 40 Gbit/s as USB 4 gen 3×2. A variant with 20Gbit/s of bandwidth will also be available under the name usb4 gen 2×2. The current USB generation, USB 3.2 Gen 2, also offers a bandwidth of 20Gbit/s, although USB 4 offers some other benefits, including dynamic bandwidth distribution. The first USB 4 devices are expected to be released in 2020.

Version 5.5 of the kernel, which adds hdcp support for AMD GPUs, among other things, is currently available as an experimental build. A stable version should be released at the end of January. A stable build of version 5.6 is expected to be released in late March or early April, Phoronix writes.