Linux is getting Blue Screen of Death for kernel panic

Late last year, version 255 of the Linux system management service systemd was given the ability to display Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) style error messages in full-screen mode. However, this solution does not work for kernel errors, so the upcoming Linux 6.10 kernel will be the first to display a blue screen in the event of a kernel panic.

Red Hat developer Javier Martinez Canillas recently presented images of what the Linux equivalent of the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death could look like on the free operating system: A little Linux penguin next to an ASCII exclamation mark in the top left corner, accompanied by the message "KERNEL PANIC! Please reboot your computer" in the centre of the screen, the background colour being blue as in the Windows version.

As is customary with the open-source Linux operating system, the kernel panic message can be customised to appear as a "black screen of death", as the Red Hat developer shows in another photo. Javier Martinez Canillas has used an SSD1306 display to show the kernel error message in large letters on a black background on the compact display.

The Linux Blue Screen of Death with kernel panic is made possible by the introduction of a new Direct Rendering Manager (DRM)-based panic handler infrastructure in the Linux 6.10 kernel, the first stable release of which is expected in mid-July. Currently, only the SimpleDRM, MGAG200, IMX and AST drivers are supported, with additional drivers to follow in later Linux kernels.