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User Plea Means EISA Support Not Removed From Linux
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.
"Linus Torvalds was friendly about the case"
They did it, they neutered him.
I'm surprised to see someone still using it myself (I've seen a few of them in the distant past, though...)
On the other hand, this is some hella stark contrast to certain other OS makers, who go out of their way to dump support for something as soon as they can in order to keep you on that upgrade treadmill - even if it means being forced to buy new hardware.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
You're talking about IBM's OS/2, right?
Sent from my PowerPC Mac mini which cannot run Yosemite.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I've seen a firm where they still use a Tolkien Ring. It's their most prized possession.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
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.
It just gets renewed, reused, and recycled, not only in more wealthy Western countries, and Third World countries, but by poorer people all over the world. (Hopefully with Linux and other FLOSS software installed!) There was an article in Slashdot in 2013 about an IBM 402 with punch cards, still in use!!! (I wonder if it could run Linux?) ;^)
But seriously, even though most of us are using computer less than 5 years old, a lot of old computers are still in use. What about 16 bit embedded systems, many running Linux! I have to agree with Linus, if the old technology in the kernel, does not adversely affect newer technologies, and people are still using it, then there is a legitimate reason for leaving it in the kernel. I trust his opinion.
IMHO, I think the FLOSS community has an obligation to continue to support older hardware & technologies that certain other proprietary O/S manufactures have long ago abandoned. Isn't that one of the reasons the Free Software and Open Source Software communities, and software were created in the first place?
Because he's the maintainer.
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/MAINTAINERS#n2998
DEFXX FDDI NETWORK DRIVER
M: "Maciej W. Rozycki"
S: Maintained
F: drivers/net/fddi/defxx.*
He's supposed to run the latest kernel, and keep this driver working...
So basically you want Apple and Microsoft to keep supporting your crusty old hardware with new features that it doesn't support anyway?
You're approaching it from the hobbyist/end-user viewpoint - turn in your geek card, please. The corporate/enterprise side of things will actually keep hardware around a whole hell of a lot longer, and industrial use cases keep old crap around the longest of all.
Example? No problem, I got a ton of those, including this little gem I dealt with a couple of years ago: Company spent millions on a certain specialized (solar cell) wafering machine whose computer still uses a parallel port (remember those?)/ It's a year or two out from ROI when it breaks down, but the manufacturer won't update or repair anything w/o the company spending millions on a new machine. Why? Because they stopped issuing patches/drivers for the machine long ago when Microsoft decided to drop their OS support, and the old stuff won't support USB enough to allow for a USB/Parport adapter.
This has fuck-all to do with fanboy ideology, and everything with having to keep systems up in situations where they need to.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
What the fuck are you talking about?
I've watched my parents throw away perfectly good printer/scanner combos that were only a few years old because there were no drivers beyond XP.
I have dozens of network and video adapters on a shelf in my garage that work great in Linux but have no Windows drivers beyond XP.
Until recently even a 386 could run Linux!
Linux vendor? I wouldn't know. I've never used one. I can install my own software thank you!