May 2026 is now in the books after writing 275 original Linux/open-source minded news articles and another 20 featured-length benchmark articles / Linux hardware reviews. There was a lot of exciting topics in May to keep the month interesting and as we approach the Phoronix 22nd birthday this week.
May was exciting on both the hardware and Linux software fronts from the NVIDIA Vera CPU being exciting to benchmark to a lot of varied open-source activity on the software side. Less exciting though is the continued struggle with the current state of the web advertising industry and rampant ad-block use. Friday, 5 June, will mark the 22nd year since I started Phoronix.com and sadly another year representing the declining and frustrating state of the ad space. It's only through my passion for Linux hardware and benchmarking that Phoronix continues on a daily basis in providing original news and extensive benchmarking. (
The most popular hardware reviews/benchmark articles for May included:
And the most popular news on Phoronix of the past month:
May was exciting on both the hardware and Linux software fronts from the NVIDIA Vera CPU being exciting to benchmark to a lot of varied open-source activity on the software side. Less exciting though is the continued struggle with the current state of the web advertising industry and rampant ad-block use. Friday, 5 June, will mark the 22nd year since I started Phoronix.com and sadly another year representing the declining and frustrating state of the ad space. It's only through my passion for Linux hardware and benchmarking that Phoronix continues on a daily basis in providing original news and extensive benchmarking. (
Update:Phoronix Marking 22 Years Of Linux Hardware Coverage This Week) If you enjoy all the content, please consider disabling any ad-blocker or otherwisejoining Phoronix Premiumfor ad-free viewing, native dark mode, multi-page articles on a single page, and other benefits. Tips viaPayPalandStripeare graciously accepted as well.The most popular hardware reviews/benchmark articles for May included:
Running Four Intel Graphics Cards Under Linux On Ubuntu 26.04It's been nearly one year to the week since Intel introduced Project Battlematrix as their initiative for improving their Linux driver support for the Arc Pro B-Series with enhancements such as bettering the multi-GPU support in allowing up to eight Arc Pro GPUs per system as well as other open-source driver optimizations in the era of AI. Recently with the Arc Pro B70 in having four review samples for testing I was finally able to try out the multi-GPU state of the Arc (Pro) graphics cards on Linux with their open-source driver code.NVIDIA Vera CPU Benchmarks: Olympus Cores Delivering The Best Performance Ever Seen On ARMNVIDIA's Vera data center CPU isn't ramping up until later this year but I recently had the opportunity to try out this new ARM-based CPU designed for agentic AI workloads. NVIDIA's Vera CPU with its in-house-designed Olympus CPU cores ends up packing a heavy-hitting punch with competitiveness to Intel/AMD x86_64 CPUs that I have never seen out of any other ARM or non-x86_64 processors. Continue on with these early benchmarks of the NVIDIA Vera CPU on Linux.GCC 16 Produces Faster Binaries Than GCC 15, Competitive Race With LLVM Clang 22GCC 16.1 released at the end of April as the latest major, annual feature release to the GNU Compiler Collection. Early benchmarks showed some nice leads for GCC 16 over GCC 15. Continued testing of the new GCC 16 compiler has continued to show overall better performance of the resulting binaries than using GCC 15 on the same hardware and same compiler flags. That led many to wonder about the GCC 16 performance up against the latest LLVM/Clang open-source compiler, which is the focus of today's benchmarking showdown.Nouveau vs. NVIDIA R595 Linux Driver For Workstation Graphics PerformanceWhen having the HP Z6 G5 A workstation in the lab for benchmarking, one of the curiosity-driven tests was seeing how well the latest open-source and upstream Nouveau driver stack is competing against the latest official NVIDIA R595 driver for workstations. The official NVIDIA Linux driver stack remains the best positioned software solution for RTX (PRO) hardware but Nouveau continues evolving while awaiting the Nova kernel driver to reach the limelight.Linux 7.1 Features: New NTFS Driver, New Intel + AMD Hardware, Performance Optimizations & ModernizationThe Linux 7.1 development kernel that amounts to nearly 40 million lines has a lot of new features and changes in tow. While Linux 7.1 stable won't be out until mid-June, here is a look at the interesting changes coming with this next stable version of the Linux kernel.CachyOS Delivers Lead Over Arch Linux, Pop!_OS & Ubuntu On System76 Thelio MajorThe new System76 Thelio Major powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000 series and optionally with the Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics card for an all-open-source AMD Linux stack is a mighty powerful workstation. If desiring even more compute potential out of this high-end desktop/workstation, CachyOS works pretty darn well on this new system with lofty leads over upstream Arch Linux as well as Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and the stock Pop!_OS 24.04 distribution.GCC 16 Compiler Delivering Some Decent Performance Gains Over GCC 15With the GCC 16.1 compiler released last Thursday, I have begun running more compiler benchmarks on this first GCC 16 stable feature release. GCC 16 comes heavy on new changes in being the annual feature release and delivering changes from AMD Zen 6 and Arm AGI CPU support to new C++ features and even the Algol 68 programming language front-end. It's also looking quite good in the performance department relative to the GCC 15 compiler from last year.Linux 6.6 LTS To Linux 7.1 Bechmarks: Performance Up 13% On AMD Threadripper Over Three YearsThe Linux 7.1 kernel performance has been looking quite good on the various Intel/AMD systems I have tested over the past three weeks. Linux 7.1 does bring some solid improvements over Linux 7.0 prior in different workloads and haven't encountered any worrisome regressions compared to the current Linux 7.0 stable kernel. For those wondering the longer-term picture, here are benchmarks of Linux 7.1 Git compared to recent Linux LTS kernel series going back to 2023 for providing a picture at how the upstream Linux kernel has netted 13% faster performance (geo mean) on the same hardware in less than three years.Redesigned Thelio Major Elevates System76's All-AMD, Open-Source Linux WorkstationA few weeks back we reviewed the redesigned System76 Thelio Mira with a brand new chassis design and powered by the AMD Ryzen 9000 series. This was an interesting Linux-powered desktop manufactured in Colorado while for those needing a bit more performance, since then the redesigned Thelio Major launched. The new System76 Thelio Major provides an updated Thelio case design like Mira while comes packed with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9000 series and AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics for delivering a very powerful, all-AMD and open-source high-end Linux workstation.Linux Provides Better Performance With The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Over Windows 11*Last month with the new AMD Zen 5 "Dual Edition" 3D V-Cache CPU, the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition showed great performance on Linux across a range of workloads. Curious if the operating system was playing into the greater benefit of Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 versus just the workloads tested, this article is looking at both the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 on Microsoft Windows 11 and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Linux across a range of native benchmarks.*And the most popular news on Phoronix of the past month:
Wine Wayland Driver Merges Pointer Warp SupportWine's Wayland native driver has taken another step forward with now supporting the pointer warp "wp_pointer_warp_v1" protocol.OpenZFS 2.4.2 Released With Linux 7.0 Kernel Support, Many Bug FixesFor those making use of OpenZFS on Linux or FreeBSD, OpenZFS 2.4.2 is out today as the newest stable release of this ZFS file-system implementation.FreeBSD 15.2 Will Aim For The Nice KDE Desktop Installation ExperienceFreeBSD 15.0 had aimed to provide a KDE desktop install option from its text-based OS installer to make for a more compelling FreeBSD out-of-the-box desktop experience. That was then delayed to FreeBSD 15.1 but that didn't end up materializing. Now the KDE desktop install option is diverted to FreeBSD 15.2.AMD & Intel Roll Out New Linux Updates For Today's Patch TuesdayToday's Patch Tuesday is a busier one than normal for the quarter. Both AMD and Intel have rolled out new updates for Linux customers among other security disclosures today. Thankfully though the vulnerabilities don't appear to be too widespread or impactful.DXVK-NVAPI 0.9.2 Further Improves NVIDIA Integration For Steam Play Linux GamingDXVK-NVAPI 0.9.2 is now available for this implementation of NVIDIA's NVAPI/NVOFAPI interfaces atop DXVK and VKD3D-Proton that is used in turn by Valve's Steam Play (Proton) for enhanced NVIDIA Linux gaming support.Linux Scheduler Work Helping Boost Gaming Performance On Old "Potato" HardwareProminent Linux kernel engineer Peter Zijlstra of Intel has been working on a set of scheduler patches to help with enhancing the behavior and delivering better results, especially for aging hardware he described as a "potato" -- an Intel Sandy Bridge desktop CPU with AMD Radeon RX 580 Polaris graphics. Benchmark results are promising from this work for gaming on old hardware while other workloads may ultimately stand to benefit too.Dirty Frag Vulnerability Made Public Early: Root Privilege On All DistributionsOne week after the Copy Fail vulnerability, a new Linux local privilege escalation bug has been made public. This time around there are no patches or CVEs yet for this "Dirty Frag" vulnerability as the embargo was broken early and thus the security researcher went ahead and published earlier than anticipated.IBM s390 Is The Latest Architecture Seeing Rust Linux Kernel SupportAn IBM engineer posted the first set of patches enabling the Rust programming language support for the Linux kernel to be built on the s390 architecture.VideoLAN Publishes Dav2d For Open-Source AV2 DecoderWhile the Alliance For Open Media had been aiming for the AV2 release by the end of 2025, as of right now the AV2 specification remains in a draft status. VideoLAN developers though for months have already been working on dav2d as an open-source AV2 decoder and that code was published this weekend.AMD Posts HDMI 2.1 FRL Patches For Their AMDGPU Linux DriverIt's not complete HDMI 2.1 support but to much surprise hitting the mailing list today were official patches from AMD for implementing HDMI Fixed Rate Link "FRL" support for their kernel graphics driver. HDMI FRL as part of HDMI 2.1+ allows for higher bandwidth to support higher refresh rates and resolutions.Fwupd 2.1.3 Brings Firmware Updating To Modular SmartphonesFresh off the milestone of Dell and Lenovo becoming premier sponsors of the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS), there is a new feature release of the Fwupd firmware updating tool for Linux systems.Linux's Latest Vulnerability Allows Reading Root-Owned Files By Unprivileged UsersFollowing Dirty Frag, Fragnesia, and other Linux kernel vulnerabilities making themselves known in recent days, the latest now is ssh-keysign-pwn.Fragnesia Made Public As Latest Linux Local Privilege Escalation VulnerabilityFollowing last week's disclosure of the Dirty Frag vulnerability for the Linux kernel, which only finished being patched up in mainline on Monday, Fragnesia is now public as a similar local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability.KDE Receiving Over 1.2 Million EUR Investment From Sovereign Tech FundKDE today announced a significant investment into the project by Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund. KDE will be receiving €1,285,200 EUR (or roughly 1.5 million USD) over the years 2026 and 2027 to make some significant improvements into their software stack.ARCTIC Fan Controller Driver Expected To Land In Linux 7.2A new driver expected to land in the upcoming Linux 7.2 kernel is the ARCTIC Fan Controller driver to allow fan speed monitoring and PWM controls for this upcoming ARCTIC product. Making this new driver all the more exciting is that it was worked on by ARCTIC directly compared to the typical workflow for such desktop/consumer hardware peripherals often being left up to the reverse-engineering, open-source community.Dell & Lenovo Now Sponsoring The Linux Vendor Firmware ServiceDell and Lenovo have stepped up to become premier sponsors for the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) that provides for seamless system firmware and device/component firmware updating under Linux with the Fwupd client.FreeBSD Foundation Executive Director Tries Daily Driving FreeBSD On LaptopWith FreeBSD having worked on improving its laptop support over the past two years with some big changes and ongoing efforts for making a nice KDE desktop experience on FreeBSD, FreeBSD Foundation's Executive Director has been trying to daily drive FreeBSD on laptops.Debian Release Team: Debian Must Now Ship Reproducible PackagesWith half-way through the Debian 14 "Forky" development cycle, the Debian release team is out with an update this weekend and some big news.Discord Touts "Year Of The Linux Desktop" With Linux Client ImprovementsDiscord, the popular instant messaging and VoIP communication platform, announced some significant improvements being made to their Linux client.SDL Library Adds Support For The New Steam Controller Without Depending On SteamValve's new Steam Controller, which began shipping earlier this month for $99 USD, is a great piece of hardware. This high-end gaming controller is great hardware wise but what some may not enjoy about it currently is the tight integration with the Steam controller and no native OS drivers currently for use outside of Steam. As a big win today, the widely-used SDL3 gaming software/hardware abstraction library has added support for the new Steam Controller that works outside the confines of Steam.