The Linux Kernel May Finally Phase Out Intel i486 CPU Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The Linux Kernel May Finally Phase Out Intel i486 CPU Support

Linus Torvalds has backed the idea of possibly removing Intel 486 (i486) processor support from the Linux kernel...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-i486-Linux-Possible-Drop

[kescherPh]

So MGLRU is what finally gets this ball rolling then? oof

[Mat2]

I like the idea of running current Linux kernels on old hardware, it is fun and appealing. On the other hand, I understand that keeping support for old platforms may cause some work for kernel developers.

[DMJC]

Just as long as ISA support is kept forever. Old sound cards are amazing, the CPUs aren't that important. It's more important in DOS.

[hamishmb]

I think it's a shame, but realistically kernel devs are spending time much better if they spend it on modern hardware enablement for Linux phones, ARM, RISC-V etc.

[TemplarGR]

I never understood why people insist on supporting ancient hardware that stopped being relevant 3 decades ago.... I mean, what is going to happen if its gets removed? It is STILL GOING TO BE ABLE TO RUN 6.1 kernels forever..... I mean, why would you need to run the 6.2 kernel on a 486 and you are not satisfied with 6.1? Perhaps you need better support for the new Intel/AMD gpus with raytracing to acompany your 486 with 4mb ram? This is ridiculous, really. Removing support from future versions of software does not mean your ancient hardware can't run existing versions... This should have been such a huge non-issue if people were less childish about it....

[wooptoo]

486 could still be relevant for some industrial applications I guess. But they can just run an older version of the kernel and be fine. I mean this is kernel 6.1 after all and 486 was released in 1989. Does any other major OS support 486? Maybe the BSDs?

[Danny3]

I think it would be a good idea to do this after the next LTS kernel.

[Jaxad0127]

I think it would be a good idea to do this after the next LTS kernel.

6.1 is expected to be LTS, and this would go in with 6.2 at the earliest.

[caligula]

I never understood why people insist on supporting ancient hardware that stopped being relevant 3 decades ago....

Both 80386 and 80486 were kind of LTS releases. Manufacturing discontinued in 2007. Also not that many had even a IBM AT (80286) exactly 3 decades ago. E.g. when Wolfenstein 3D appeared (the state of the art FPS game 3 decades ago), the game had 80286 as a requirement, not 80386 or 80486. It didn't even require a modern protected mode multi-tasking OS.