Linux 6.7 Set To Drop Support For Itanium IA-64

[oiaohm]

https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html 6.7 dropping IA-64 means you still have the Linux 6.1 LTS to Dec, 2026 before start having issue kernel without security updates . Of course that could be longer if some Extended LTS group decides to pick it up.

[jabl]

https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html 6.7 dropping IA-64 means you still have the Linux 6.1 LTS to Dec, 2026 before start having issue kernel without security updates . Of course that could be longer if some Extended LTS group decides to pick it up.

6.6 will likely become a longterm release, pushing the EOL date to end of 2027.

[bofkentucky]

Kinda makes me wonder how much HP benefitted from the IA-64 contract. I'm guessing Intel put very little investment in improving the architecture; I wouldn't be surprised if they basically just upgraded the node, gave it some higher clock speeds, maybe thrown in a little more cache, and sold it for a massive profit. Since there was effectively only one customer, Intel had no reason to market this or have retail models, which would have only further increased their profit margin. Intel would only have to produce as many as HP requested, which meant Intel would have no leftover inventory.
So, it all came down to being just HP dealing with the expenses of keeping this architecture alive. Makes me wonder if it would have been cheaper for them to have just cut out the middleman by buying the architecture and a couple engineers from Intel. Or... if they both mutually agreed to cancel the contract. I figure the few remaining HP customers who use it aren't worth maintaining the architecture, even if HP were to get sued.

If HP had any brains they would have ported HP-UX to Alpha which they had acquired instead of selling off the IP. AMD based the opteron bus off of some of that alpha IP

[Democrab]

AMD based the opteron bus off of some of that alpha IP

Close, AMD straight up licensed the Alpha 21264 (Or EV6) bus for use on Slot A and Socket A/462, which had Athlons, Durons and Semprons but predated the Opteron.

Pretty sure there were some Alpha servers that came with an AMD 750 or AMD 760 chipset because of that shared bus as well, makes me wonder if it'd be possible to make a Alpha 21264 motherboard with an nForce2 or VIA KT600/KT880 chipset.