The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) kernel graphics/display and accelerator driver changes have been merged for Linux 7.2. The Linux 7.2 DRM merge is headlined by the long-awaited HDMI 2.1 Fixed Rate Link (FRL) support for the AMDGPU open-source driver as part of the larger effort of finally proceeding with a full HDMI 2.1 implementation for this AMD Radeon Linux driver.

The AMDGPU HDMI 2.1 FRL support was successfully merged into Linux 7.2. The feature is initially disabled by default and the complete HDMI 2.1 implementation for AMDGPU isn't ready for Linux 7.2, but at least the initial FRL capabilities are wired up for allowing higher resolutions and higher refresh rates when using modern HDMI displays.

In addition to AMDGPU HDMI 2.1 FRL, there is also the introduction of the AMDGPU DC Power Module for better matching the display power management behavior of Radeon Software on Windows. Hopefully this will lead to a better experience and less bugs.

Also on the AMD side is continued enablement for next-gen graphics IP. Though with their versioning practices and block-by-block enablement, it's difficult to ascertain the precise product support at this time.

AMDGPU also has better handling for non-4K kernel page sizes such as on ARM and POWER.

With the AMDXDNA accelerator driver for Ryzen AI NPUs is expandable heap support and enabling next-gen AIE4 NPU hardware. There is also new power management features for both the AMDXDNA and Intel IVPU NPU drivers.

Over on the Intel kernel graphics driver side there is now DRM background color property support, preparing for multiple Crescent Island SKUs, Panel Replay Tunneling support, SR-IOV enabling for Nova Lake Xe3P graphics, and even a fix for old Sandy Bridge era graphics. Intel Crescent Island for that upcoming enterprise AI accelerator continues to be a big focus for the Intel Linux software engineers.

There is also continued work on the NVIDIA Nova Rust driver and working toward Hopper and Blackwell GPU support. The Nouveau driver meanwhile landed GA100 accelerator support.

In DRM core is now defaulting to the "fair" scheduler.

The full list of now-merged Linux 7.2 DRM driver changes can be found via this pull.