“Linux enthusiasts have long awaited the release of Linux kernel
2.4. All aspects of Linux usage have been closely considered in
the development of 2.4 and the kernel has been optimised along
those lines, from entry level to enterprise. The results will bring
considerable weight to the push for Linux in business computing as
commercial quality Unix features continue to be offered in an open
source model.”
“The development of 2.4 focused strongly on supporting new
hardware and CPU level architectures. Three new hardware
architectures have been introduced: IA-64, Intel’s 64-bit Itanium
processor; S/390, an IBM mainframe architecture; and the SuperH
processor architecture, used by the Windows CE hardware. 2.4 has
also been optimised for Crusoe, the new lightweight chip from
Transmeta.”
“Linux Itanium development has attracted a lot of attention from
big business. Contributions have been made by Hewlett-Packard, IBM,
Intel, VA Linux, Red Hat, SuSE, TurboLinux, SGI, LinuxCare and many
others. With this, Linux looks set to support extensively IA-64
architecture from the minute Intel begins shipping – which could be
as early as late this year.”