What's new in Linux 3.2

The algorithm for determining when writeback from memory to persistent storage is interesting:<p><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/456904/" rel="nofollow">https://lwn.net/Articles/456904/</a><p>(Linked from <a href="http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.2" rel="nofollow">http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.2</a>, which has more detail than the HN posted article)

Making the RC6 engine for Intel graphics the default was reverted at the last minute due to instability, <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&#38;px=MTAzNDg" rel="nofollow">http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&#38;px=MTAzN...</a>. It can still be enabled manually by adding i915.i916_enable_rc6=1 to the kernel boot parameters, just like 3.1.<p>Another interesting change concerning Logitech Unifying devices is that multiple devices are now given separate /dev entries, instead of being multiplexed into one device.

The EVM part interests me. It provides a way of guaranteeing that a file has not been changed by using a combination of a passphrase and a key stored in the TPM, along with hashes of files stored as xattrs on disk.<p>More info here: <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/394170/" rel="nofollow">http://lwn.net/Articles/394170/</a><p>One question I have though is how to guarantee that the kernel hasn't been modified to misread the xattrs or log the passphrase. Anyone know?

So does that mean there will soon be distro support for the newer netbooks? (full sizish keyboards under an 11 inch monitor with slightly faster AMD CPU is the payoff, but the graphics and wifi have been problematic from what I understand)<p>It's an important tangent to me: I like the very small laptop form, but the newer models have not been well supported yet.

Do they still ship with an out-of-date version of AppArmor? I'm pretty sure the vanilla linux kernel is stuck at version 2.3.1.<p>It looks like Ubuntu ships with version 2.7 now: <a href="http://wiki.apparmor.net/index.php/AppArmor_versions" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.apparmor.net/index.php/AppArmor_versions</a>

I always wanted to be a Linux Kernel Developer. At least, help them with the most tedious task. Where can I start?

Soooo, anyone care to translate this into Bourgeois Geek? o_O