Linux

54046 readers

1208 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

311

Linux kernel is leaving 486 CPUs behind, only 18 years after the last one made (arstechnica.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

65 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I didn’t know whether to mark this NSFW or not but it’s time to buy a new computer if you haven’t upgraded in multiple decades.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

I think it should be possible to still run Linux on almost every 25 years old computer.

If the computer is older than this, it really becomes a piece of history and I can accept that it’d take efforts from the user to keep it in use, just like a collection car.

I only hope no bricking update is gonna be proposed to the people running such old hardware. The distribution should check if the hardware is compatible with a newer kernel before updating.

Still I think it’s important that Linux remains the OS of choice for old hardware and that the some distros remain deficated to these museum pieces.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think older versions of the kernel (that support 486 hw) would still be available to download so someone could use them if they wanted. Not sure what other extre work would be involved though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

The issue is that older kernel versions will lose support and stop getting security updates eventually. I don't know if there is enough of a community around old CPUs for fixes to be backported by the community.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

i love backwards compatibility as much as the next guy, but at some point, if there isn't enough of a community to backport fixes, there probably aren't many using them. if a tree falls in the forest, you get the idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

You wouldn't want to keep such old equipment connected to a network anyway. That's only inviting trouble down the line.