Perhaps most notable among several key new features in Linux 3.6 is "hybrid sleep," a capability much like one that has long been offered by Microsoft's Windows.

"When I did the -rc7 announcement a week ago, I said I might have to do an -rc8, but a week passed, and things have been calm, and I honestly cannot see a major reason to do another rc," Torvalds began in the official . "So here it is, 3.6 final.

"The changes in 3.6 since 3.5 are too many to list," Torvalds added. "There haven't been any huge new architectures or filesystems, it's all 'solid progress.' That may not sound all that exciting, but the devil is in the details, and there's a lot of small fixes all over."

Ready for a quick rundown? Here are a few of the highlights.