Goodbye, 1985

Story: Linux dumps 386 supportTotal Replies: 2
Author Content
caitlyn

Dec 12, 2012
3:58 PM EDT
Yep, Linux dumped 27 year old technology. It's amazing that Linux supported it this long. Does anyone still use 386 processors anywhere? I hope not.
set

Dec 12, 2012
10:02 PM EDT
Age is irrelevant; the reason for the removal was that it complicated things in core parts of the code for things like SMP. The kernel can still run eg. ancient 8bit contolers for MFM hard disks found in the likes of the original IBM PC. Support for old hardware can hang around forever, as long as it doesnt hurt anything. The kernel is also modular enough that it doesnt even have to impose any overhead for those who dont care. 386's may still exist in embedded applications, but if anyone cares, the old kernels continue to exist (and even will continue to be maintained by some for awhile :)
mbaehrlxer

Dec 13, 2012
2:31 AM EDT
1985? instead of looking at the year when the 386 came out, rather look at when the last machine with that cpu was sold. sometime in the 90s i guess.

greetings, eMBee.

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