Gaming on Linux has undergone a massive transformation, with platforms like SteamOS now running high-end Windows titles seamlessly. However, a premium gaming experience requires more than just high average frame rates; it demands the elimination of "stutter" -- those micro-latencies and sudden FPS drops that break immersion. On handheld, battery- constrained devices like the Steam Deck, the challenge is even steeper: balancing peak performance with aggressive power efficiency.

This talk explores how the Linux scheduler directly impacts these critical metrics. We will begin with an overview of traditional Linux schedulers, such as CFS and EEVDF, before introducing the sched_ext framework -- a framework that enables pluggable, BPF-based user-defined schedulers.

The core of the session dives into LAVD, a cutting-edge scheduler engineered specifically for gaming responsiveness. We will examine how modern scheduling techniques can minimize latency and optimize the power-performance tradeoff. Finally, we will share performance benchmarks from LAVD and discuss ongoing efforts to expand its benefits to general-purpose and latency-critical workloads beyond gaming.

​Changwoo Min is a Kernel Developer at Igalia, an employee-owned open- source consultancy. His work focuses on researching and developing operating system enhancements for performance, concurrency, and security. Currently, he is specialized in improving Linux scheduler interactivity for latency-critical tasks. Prior to joining Igalia, Changwoo spent several years teaching Linux kernel programming to graduate students at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. degree from Sungkyunkwan University.​