Effort Continues To Remove Most Of The SPARC 32-bit CPU Support From Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Effort Continues To Remove Most Of The SPARC 32-bit CPU Support From Linux

Last year saw a lot of code clean-up work on the Linux kernel and working to remove support for obsolete hardware no longer being actively maintained within the mainline kernel tree for years. On the CPU side one of the efforts has been to remove unused SPARC 32-bit CPU support for old Sun workstations. The patches for removing unused SPARC32 code was updated this weekend and now undergoing review...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Drop-Most-SPARC32-v2

[Archprogrammer]

Luckily I have an Ultra 1 which can run in 64-bit mode. On the other hand it's already running Solaris 9 and it's been quite a few years since the last time i woke it from hibernation.

[s_j_newbury]

Phoronix: Effort Continues To Remove Most Of The SPARC 32-bit CPU Support From Linux

Last year saw a lot of code clean-up work on the Linux kernel and working to remove support for obsolete hardware no longer being actively maintained within the mainline kernel tree for years. On the CPU side one of the efforts has been to remove unused SPARC 32-bit CPU support for old Sun workstations. The patches for removing unused SPARC32 code was updated this weekend and now undergoing review...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-...ost-SPARC32-v2

Doesn't T2 still support Sparc32?

[bofkentucky]

Doesn't T2 still support Sparc32?

sun4d and sun4m covered in this article are the last 32bit sparc processors from the mid-90s, the two generations that followed are

sun4u (64 bit ultrasparc I through IV+ plus some engineering work pre-oracle buyout like the ROCK processor)
T1 and later through the M8 is sun4v

You could run unmodified sun4m and sun4d binaries on those later generations in solaris 9 and 10, I left the sun/oracle world after solaris 11 and the T-3 series so I can't speak to how that holds up today.

[milkylainen]

Space industry is still using SPARC?
The ESA Sparc Leon family.
It's been sucessful for over 25 years and still going strong?
But they're probably going RISC-V for space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEON

https://www.gaisler.com/

[kpedersen]

Space industry is still using SPARC?
The ESA Sparc Leon family.
It's been sucessful for over 25 years and still going strong?

"But it can't be used to run any Steam DRM platform games so might as well be removed!"

I also notice that Rust is Tier 3 outside of pretty much any consumer platforms so is inadequate for anything like this.

[fitzie]

i remember running linux on a ss20 with three cgsix cards. Cannot remember if it was ross hypersparcs or not. these were the days were linux wasn't all that stable, so I do remember my X11 desktop crashing more then i would have liked. I do miss my type 5 keyboard.

[NeoMorpheus]

i remember running linux on a ss20 with three cgsix cards. Cannot remember if it was ross hypersparcs or not. these were the days were linux wasn't all that stable, so I do remember my X11 desktop crashing more then i would have liked. I do miss my type 5 keyboard.

You will have more chances of experiencing issues by sticking with ngreedia and wayland, if we go by their white knights 😂

[rene]

Some people will only be happy if the smallest code for the most simply architectures is removed. Also some day in the not so distant future the Linux kernel will only support the only remaining CPU ISA: RISCV-64 ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE-FeFWG28w

[GreenReaper]

I remember two decades ago my university housemate had what I think were SPARCstation 4s piled up along the walls of his room like they were going out of style (which they were; I think he got them from the uni after they upgraded to x86 PCs). I guess now they're museum pieces; can't imagine they'd do much now, at least not at a sensible power/performance ratio.