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User Plea Means EISA Support Not Removed From Linux

Posted by timothy on from the otherwise-the-city-will-be-destroyed dept.

jones_supa writes A patch was proposed to the Linux Kernel Mailing List to drop support for the old EISA bus. However a user chimed in: "Well, I'd like to keep my x86 box up and alive, to support EISA FDDI equipment I maintain if nothing else — which in particular means the current head version of Linux, not some ancient branch." Linus Torvalds was friendly about the case: "So if we actually have a user, and it works, then no, we're not removing EISA support. It's not like it hurts us or is in some way fundamentally broken, like the old i386 code was (i386 kernel page fault semantics really were broken, and the lack of some instructions made it more painful to maintain than needed — not like EISA at all, which is just a pure add-on on the side)." In addition to Intel 80386, recent years have also seen MCA bus support being removed from the kernel. Linux generally strives to keep support even for crusty hardware if there provably is still user(s) of the particular gear.

4 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. The end of an era. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Linus Torvalds was friendly about the case"

    They did it, they neutered him.

  2. Re:Crusty Hardware by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've seen a firm where they still use a Tolkien Ring. It's their most prized possession.

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  3. Re:Crusty Hardware by MadKeithV · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've seen a firm where they still use a Tolkien Ring. It's their most prized possession.

    I'm sure you meant to say their most precious possession.

  4. Re:Crusty Hardware by Iniamyen · · Score: 3, Funny

    Aren't they running Frodo?