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386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

git.kernel.org

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Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#11

Post by asveikau »

astrodust wrote: post #2

To think that support for something so edge-case has been supported this long is remarkable. Even very basic embedded x86 processors are 80486 caliber. Those more feeble than that have no hope of running the current kernel in any meaningful fashion.

In 2000, someone gave me a 386 desktop that they were about to throw out, and I ran OpenBSD on it until 2005 or so. (I was a student, so getting new hardware was more of a big deal then.) To get it working I had to recompile the kernel (which I did on a "more capable" Celeron 366) without support for newfangled hardware such as USB and PCI in order to have enough memory to boot and log in in a tolerable amount of time. (Otherwise too painful due to swap.)

So I was pretty grateful at the time that it was still working, even though what I was doing was, now I can say with the benefit of hindsight, pretty crazy.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#12

Post by j45 »

386's were the first computers I ever used Linux on. Man.

I will say this much, a 386 sx/16 was a large part of learning learn how to get so much done with so little resources.

It's amazing how Linux was more efficient than windows even then, while the decade of driver drought was being bridged.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#13

Post by kev009 »

frogurt wrote: post #5

I would have thought that support for this architecture would have been useful to keep, since a lot of rad-hardened systems (think space, satellite applications) still use it.

I'm into retrocomputing so these kinds of retirements always sting a bit.

In realistic long term operations, deprecations don't hurt. I.e. your air traffic control system running on PA-RISC and HP-UX doesn't care that HP-UX only run on Itanium now. You keep running the old software and set up some kind of support schedule to keep the system patched during it's service life through the vendor or otherwise.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#14

Post by petercooper »

astrodust wrote: post #2

To think that support for something so edge-case has been supported this long is remarkable. Even very basic embedded x86 processors are 80486 caliber. Those more feeble than that have no hope of running the current kernel in any meaningful fashion.

Tangential trivia: MRI Ruby still has compiler directives and, supposedly, support for the Atari ST. Always weird bumping into them when going around the codebase. No idea if it actually works or why it's even a thing.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#17

Post by wladimir »

frogurt wrote: post #5

I would have thought that support for this architecture would have been useful to keep, since a lot of rad-hardened systems (think space, satellite applications) still use it.

Linux is very slow with removing old drivers and CPUs compared to the commercial operating systems, which is nice because it allows it to run almost everywhere on the cheapest hardware. But they cannot keep everything forever (maintainability nightmare). They also removed token ring network support just this year.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#18

Post by enneff »

asveikau wrote: post #11
astrodust wrote: post #2

To think that support for something so edge-case has been supported this long is remarkable. Even very basic embedded x86 processors are 80486 caliber. Those more feeble than that have no hope of running the current kernel in any meaningful fashion.

In 2000, someone gave me a 386 desktop that they were about to throw out, and I ran OpenBSD on it until 2005 or so. (I was a student, so getting new hardware was more of a big deal then.) To get it working I had to recompile the kernel (which I did on a "more capable" Celeron 366) without support for newfangled hardware such as USB and PCI in order to have enough memory to boot and log in in a tolerable amount of tim…

I ran a diskless 386DX 33mhz in my bedroom for many years, because it didn't make any noise. It ran a cut-down Linux distribution based on slackware, and I used it as a terminal and for small programming tasks.

I also kept it around for sentimental reasons, as it was the machine I did most of my early coding on. It didn't feel right to throw it out.

So thanks, Linux, for supporting my old junk hardware as long as you did! And congrats on losing ~400 lines of crufty code.

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#19

Post by Moto7451 »

frozenport wrote: post #16

I wonder if this has implications for the Intel MIC, whose processors are not dissimilar to the 386. Maybe run a 64 cluster on a single chip?

MICs are actually roughly based on an updated Pentium 1 (P54) platform so it won't matter.

http://m.extremetech.com/extremetech/#!/entry/intels-50core-...

Re: 386-DX/SX support nuked from Linux Kernel

#20

Post by Moto7451 »

steevdave wrote: post #7
frogurt wrote: post #5

I would have thought that support for this architecture would have been useful to keep, since a lot of rad-hardened systems (think space, satellite applications) still use it.

A rad hardened machine won't be running 3.7, or 3.6.x for that matter. They will be running something a bit older with (guess I don't know for sure) security patches being back ported as needed.

I'd think that most of them would be using a RTOS like VxWorks or QNX.
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