As expected, the jailbreak of iOS 5.1.1 has been released this morning, and is now available for download. The public jailbreak tool, Absinthe 2.0, can be downloaded from greenpois0n. You can download Absinthe for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Absinthe currently supports all versions of the iPhone going back to the iPhone 3GS, the third- and fourth-generation iPod Touch, and all versions of the iPad, with the exception of the newest iPad 2 with the upgraded processor. Support for that iPad should be coming soon. That version of the iPad 2 is quite rare, though, so the odds of that being a problem for most jailbreakers are pretty low.

As noted above, you can get Absinthe 2.0 from greenpois0n, where you’ll also find instructions on how to jailbreak your device. Interestingly, this time around the jailbreak requires you to erase the data on your device (back your stuff up first!) before jailbreaking, then restore from the backup.

Yesterday we told you that the release of Absinthe 2.0 might be the Dev Team’s “one more thing” for their keynote at this year’s Hack In The Box conference in Amsterdam. That appears to have been the case. Several members of the team tweeted just a little while ago that the jailbreak was ready. Pod2g appears to have gotten the honor of posting the first tweet:

You should know, too, that erasing your data and then restoring isn’t strictly necessary, though it apparently speeds the process along quite a bit:

Of course, the problem with any new jailbreak is that when iTunes backs up your device’s data, it doesn’t keep any account of the apps and tweaks you’ve installed from Cydia, so jailbreaking your device means starting all over again. Fortunately, there’s an app for that. Or, more accurately, there are several apps for that. The good folks at iJailbreak have put together a list of the best options.

One more thing: greenpois0n appears to be handling things pretty well at the moment, but a big chunk of the U.S. is still asleep at this point. As the day goes on the Dev Team’s servers are bound to get slammed, which could make jailbreaking your device a little harder. So if you have trouble getting Absinthe downloaded, you may have to be a little patient.