So far Intel has posted very few Linux kernel driver enablement patches around Nova Lake but it looks like that is about to change.
Now that the Intel Panther Lake Linux support appears largely in order, it looks like Intel Linux developers are beginning to shift their attention to Nova Lake. As a reminder, Nova Lake is expected to be the next-gen desktop and mobile platform and rumored to go up to 52 cores and a host of other improvements over existing Intel CPUs.
Sent out to the Linux kernel mailing list today were the initial patches for enabling Nova Lake S audio support across the Sound Open Firmware (SOF) and HDA driver code.
The patch series confirms that Nova Lake S uses the ACE4 audio subsystem and has two DSP cores. In building off the driver support of prior Intel CPU generations, enabling Nova Lake S “NVL-S” audio driver support is just 278 lines of new code.
See this patch series for those interested in the Nova Lake S audio support.
With the Linux 6.18 merge window currently open, these patches likely won’t land until the v6.19 cycle. Expect more Nova Lake patches to come too ahead of the v6.19 merge window and for what will be the first major kernel version of 2026.
