Linux and Intel 386 processors will part ways
Friday, December 14, 2012 - 15:01
in Mathematics & Economics
(Phys.org)—Earlier this week Linus Torvalds took away support for 386 CPUs from the Linux kernel. He agreed with the position of Red Hat engineer and Linux kernel developer Ingo Molnar to drop support for Intel's old 386 microprocessors. For Linux users, the world is not coming to a halt. All it means is that the 386 DX33 chip will not be able to run in future versions of Linux, just in existing versions of the kernel. Intel 386-DX owners, for whatever hobbyist or other reasons, will not be able to enjoy the new Linux versions starting with 3.8. Molnár explained that the extra work involved in continuing support was greater than the returns in benefits.