Linux 7.1 Expected To Begin Removing i486 CPU Support

[-]

SpeedDaemon1969@reddit

My first Linux install was on a 486, so this makes me sad. OTOH I don't have any 32-bit machines of any kind any more, so bring it on!

[-]

Lukian0816@reddit

In one of my PCs there is an Intel i7-4770 that I've decided I won't ever replace just to see how long it will last. Would be funny if it lasts longer than Linux support for it.

[-]

Terrible_tigerMC@reddit

At this rate you got until 2052 so I wouldn’t worry too much

[-]

tilsgee@reddit

What's next ?. Pentium driver removed from 7.5 ?

[-]

vinciblechunk@reddit

Debian crossed that bridge ten years ago. Turns out it's a huge time saver to stop caring about architectures without CMOV.

[-]

koxolare@reddit

And Debian Trixie even dropped support for the whole 32-bit PC architecture, unless you run it in a chroot on an amd64 kernel.

[-]

I love Debian to death, but this decision really disappointed me because I run a lot of old hardware. I'm philosophically opposed to generating e-waste of any kind. Nowadays, I put NetBSD on older machines that can't run current Debian and that has proven to be a pretty successful strategy - Debian on anything that will run it, BSD on anything that can't.

[-]

Exact-Strife@reddit

You're still free to install and run FreeDOS on the hardware if you wanted something that is still supported. Or any of the other DOS variants, in either case you would be getting more practical use out of them with those than with Linux.

[-]

mglyptostroboides@reddit

What in the actual hell are you talking about? There are tons of 32-bit machines from the 2000s that are useful for far more than just what a DOS compatible OS would limit them to. Unless you're one of the people who can only imagine using a computer for web browsing. Like, yeah, there aren't a lot of 32-bit machines that can comfortably handle the modern web experience, but saying all they're good for is running a 16-bit operating system that can't properly multitask is unhinged.

I guess your comment makes sense if you thought I was talking about like a 486 or something, but don't forget that 32-bit x86 persisted until the 2010s. This is the era of computers I preserve. First Ave second gen netbooks are dirt cheap and perfectly useable if you put a modern OS on them.

[-]

Exact-Strife@reddit

The article is about the 486 so it's not likely I was including AMD Athlons and Intel Atoms.

[-]

bargu@reddit

If you want to run old hardware you can always use a period appropriate kernel. There's no real reason to use a modern kernel on a 486, they can't take advantage of any new technology anyway.

[-]

meltbox@reddit

I wonder though if some older hardware isn’t more secure by virtue of just having an order of magnitude smaller attack surface.

I know they also don’t have a million different security features but still.

[-]

vinciblechunk@reddit

Pentium had the F00F bug which required OS mitigation, so my gut feeling on this is probably no, in general

[-]

SpaceCadet2000@reddit

I think in general "yes", as the most serious hardware security issues are related to speculative execution, which the Pentium and anything that came before it don't have.

[-]

criticalpwnage@reddit

Linux distros for older computers like the 486 will almost certainly continue to exist, they just won’t have the newest kernel

[-]

23Link89@reddit

I mean there are still distributions of Linux which support 32 bit machines still. Just not Debian.

[-]

mglyptostroboides@reddit

I'm aware, I just prefer Debian for many reasons.

[-]

TuffActinTinactin@reddit

I'm opposed to e waste as well, I have an 18 year old laptop that I enjoy keeping alive, but you need to weigh the electricity use against the computers performance. Using an old 486 as a file server might not be the best use of electricity.

[-]

DerekB52@reddit

I think about stuff like this and even feel iffy about using my q8300 system as a NAS. And that's a quad core x86_64 chip.

[-]

Far_Calligrapher1334@reddit

Isn't this the vest way to go, though? Let the old machines have their own, well-tested and supported (i486/686 is still tier 1, right?) OS while letting Linux cut out the parts that are seldom used and probably not maintained the best? It sounds to me like everyone wins, unless there's some specific software NetBSD cant run?

[-]

WarOnFlesh@reddit

Running ancient hardware costs more electricity for the same work being done. You're saving an old computer from the landfill, but you're burning fossil fuels to keep it running

[-]

newsflashjackass@reddit

Running ancient hardware costs more electricity for the same work being done. You're saving an old computer from the landfill, but you're burning fossil fuels to keep it running

This sort of calculation is never done before creating the replacement hardware, so that it might include the cost of finding and digging up special rocks and turning them into computers.

[-]

KittensInc@reddit

The problem is that legacy support isn't free. It doesn't make sense to force repo mirror operators to cumulatively buy dozens of terabytes of additional SSDs just so one person can avoid having to upgrade from their 2000s-era 20GB HDD. Similarly, millions of CPUs having their modern architectural features sit unused because the binaries have to be compatible with one ancient CPU is far more wasteful than replacing that one CPU. It gets even worse when you consider total-cost-of-ownership: how much additional power are you consuming by having an ancient computer work itself to death, rather than having a modern one lazily idle for your workload?

E-waste isn't just a technically-still-functional machine being retired. Sometimes retiring the old machine is better, once you take into account all the other factors.

[-]

Lawnmover_Man@reddit

once you take into account all the other factors.

While that is true, you rarely see that someone took everything into account. And with rare, I mean quite literally never, and with someone, I mean pretty much everyone, including professionals.

So you're right, but... did we ever see such a calculation, that takes everything into account?

[-]

newsflashjackass@reddit

"Shut the factory down, boys. Turns out this land belonged to natives."

[-]

Kobymaru376@reddit

As always, supporting old architectures isn't free. It takes volunteer time, compute time, disk space.

Sure some people will have old hardware like this, but at some point the balance of effort to benefiting users will be completely off. At some point, support has to end.

[-]

Exact-Strife@reddit

You're still free to install and run FreeDOS on the hardware if you wanted something that is still supported. Or any of the other DOS variants, in either case you would be getting more practical use out of them with those than with Linux.

[-]

hjames9@reddit

You're generating wasted power running all those ancient and power inefficient machines.

[-]

ChocolateSpecific263@reddit

cpus dont have drivers, only microcode

[-]

aeltheos@reddit

While you might not have a "Pentium" driver (to the best of my knowledge) some features (frequency control, interrupt controller...) requires drivers.

[-]

Mars_Bear2552@reddit

i'd argue that the peripheral drivers could count (e.g. interrupt controller), but that's an architectural thing

[-]

JockstrapCummies@reddit

Linux has fallen. Millions must FDIV.

[-]

asm_lover@reddit

Linux in shambles Year of the NetBSD desktop

[-]

petersaints@reddit

FreeBSD

[-]

werygood_cz@reddit

FreeBSD does not support 486, NetBSD does.

[-]

GildSkiss@reddit

Gateway 2000 owners in shambles rn

[-]

nut-sack@reddit

This hits close to home. Ive got one of those upstairs.

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

I have one downstairs.

[-]

the_abortionat0r@reddit

Now of only they did that for modern hardware

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

The BSDs run quite well on modern servers and appliances.

[-]

the_abortionat0r@reddit

It's so great that you said that in a thread were people are talking about home computers like desktops and laptops. That's SUPER RELEVANT!

You are a very smart person and your promotion for BSD has worked so well I'm totally going to switch ignoring the fact that my entire leisure/work flow is functionally impossible on BSD all because you told me it works great on servers and appliances. HAZZAH!

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

That's cool. We weren't talking about your leisure/workflow, just hardware. But sure, use the right tool for the job.

[-]

Indolent_Bard@reddit

Even better than Linux?

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

In some cases, yes. There are always outsiders: I have an old Mac Mini 4,1 that NetBSD and FreeBSD wouldn't even boot on, but OpenBSD ran flawlessly on. It's currently Debian but I was surprised that even NetBSD had issue.

I've had a pile of old PCs that I had issues with Linux on, but the BSDs worked great. These days, now that even 'old' computers are amd_x64 so that makes it easier, I guess.

[-]

Far_Calligrapher1334@reddit

It would depend on the OS, but generally, yes, NetBSD at this point kind of exists to support as many old architectures as possible while delivering a useable system. I'd assume OpenBSD would also at least run, but that's just a guess.

[-]

nut-sack@reddit

Duuuude. Back in the day when it was my current computer. I tried every distro I could find. None would install because at the time the phoenix bios wasn’t compatible with Linux. So my first Unix based operating system that I could get to fully install was FreeBSD 4.0. You’re awesome for mentioning that.

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

You're awesome for running FreeBSD 4.0, /u/nutsack.

[-]

NorthStarZero@reddit

Dude you're getting a Dell.

[-]

natguy2016@reddit

IIRC, that spokes guy was busted for pot 20+ years ago. Shocking I know.

[-]

GinormousHippo458@reddit

Victimless crime

[-]

natguy2016@reddit

Also 30 years ago. Keep that in mind

[-]

great_whitehope@reddit

30 years ago you got fired for getting a bj in the Oval Office.

Now you can fuck kids and be president while shitting your pants

[-]

DerekB52@reddit

Clinton wasn't fired, an impeachment is like a firing inquiry. They decided not to fire him. And his approval rating went up after that incident. Already most people don't care.

Imo, to get from there to here, we have backslid further than I thought possible.

[-]

GinormousHippo458@reddit

Haha true. Makes me wonder, is society dumber now or back then. 🤔

[-]

MrWeirdoFace@reddit

Just as dumb, but in new and exciting ways.

[-]

GinormousHippo458@reddit

At least we're not bored I guess.

[-]

natguy2016@reddit

Now. Fascists were the bad guys 30 years ago

[-]

Obvious-Hunt19@reddit

Dude you’re getting probation!

[-]

natguy2016@reddit

+1

[-]

za72@reddit

I'm never upgrading to 7.1!!!'

[-]

meltbox@reddit

Why not? Just fork the Linux kernel and compile it with support added back in.

What are you, some sort of normie that doesn’t compile everything they run?

[-]

za72@reddit

ok I'm back in baby!

[-]

Huge_Lingonberry5888@reddit

cool, if i was you - i will downgrade to 3.1..its way better!

[-]

TheG0AT0fAllTime@reddit

gateway 2000 is no more more

[-]

AditzuL@reddit

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[-]

TheG0AT0fAllTime@reddit

Thank you

[-]

kaszak696@reddit

It was supposed to be never obsolete!

[-]

MeccIt@reddit

Well, shit https://i.imgur.com/PPqYSjM.jpg

[-]

ChocolateSpecific263@reddit

you dont understand, its not really supported, they just remove code that is because of that not anymore used, floppy was removed because of that

[-]

intelminer@reddit

You don't understand

It's called a joke

[-]

dbasinge@reddit

MOO!!!

[-]

NailAlarmed8935@reddit

Sheesh i can't warmup my coffee anymore.

[-]

ICantBelieveItsNotEC@reddit

This is unacceptable, the i486 is a crucial part of my workflow! Pentium/Celeron/Core CPUs don't even natively support basic features like ISA bus and 5v signalling! I'll have to to stay on kernel 7.0 until those must-have features are added to the so-called "modern" CPUs. If it ain't broke, don't fix it - shame on Linus for deprecating something that was working fine before the replacement is ready for prime time!

!/s, if it wasn't obvious!<

[-]

RAMChYLD@reddit

Wait for someone to fork it. When the kernel dropped M68K support which some were using for early Macs, Amiga and Atari ST machines, a group of people actually forked the kernel and added the support back.

[-]

grem75@reddit

Someone is maintaining an Itanium tree too.

[-]

oln@reddit

I don't think they had to fork it, just use a SLTS release from before it was dropped and make sure security patches still worked. Version 6.1 which was the last SLTS release before it got dropped will be maintained until 2033

[-]

grem75@reddit

They didn't have to, they wanted to.

[-]

oln@reddit

Ah - I wonder why they did that instead of just using a LTS release

[-]

A_Shocker@reddit

That one was pointless from the BEGINNING

[-]

pezezin@reddit

I don't understand why people do that, to me the whole point of keeping such old machines alive is to run the original old software. There are a million better ways to run Linux.

[-]

nabagaca@reddit

I think there is novelty value in it, both in seeing if you can do it, and also in doing things that feel cursed (e.g. SSH-ing into a modern machine with a very old machine, or I saw someone else say they used translation layers to get X11 applications on their modern machine displaying on an old machine running X10). There's no practical use to it, but arguably the practical use of old machines is limited anyway, other than running period-correct software

[-]

oln@reddit

Even then, 6.12 LTS will be maintained for 10 more years so nothing to worry about

[-]

ronasimi@reddit

Not as a joke but there's automation equipment running Linux using 486s, guaranteed

[-]

moralesnery@reddit

That automation equipment is probably still in kernel 2.x anyway

[-]

Nervous-Cockroach541@reddit

Yeah, it's not like you can't run an older kernal. 486s would struggle with any modern kernal, let alone the rest of the operating system. As someone who's worked on legacy system, it's very standard for it to be running software from that time as well.

I'd be very surprised if anyone is still running legacy machines with modern software.

[-]

McDutchie@reddit

Got a 20 year old Dell laptop (AMD dual core, 1 GB RAM) very happily running FreeBSD 14.4. (I use it as a software development testing box and I keep some backups on it as well.)

[-]

Nervous-Cockroach541@reddit

486 could drive when your old Dell laptop was made.

[-]

McDutchie@reddit

True, but I still think it qualifies as a legacy machine.

[-]

Darkpriest667@reddit

Guess what the autopilot on Boeing airplanes runs on? :-) Yup 386 and 486 processors.

[-]

0riginal-Syn@reddit

That is what LTS and ELTS is for.

[-]

KittensInc@reddit

You'd be surprised!

The ISA bus was used as the basis for the PATA harddrive connection, which of course led to SATA drives, and parts of which were reused again for USB storage devices.

Somewhat-modern motherboards (AM4, at least) also still use an LPC bus (which is essentially ISA in a different coat), and expose it for external use via a TPM header. And yes, you can actually connect ancient ISA cards to it.

Similarly, ISA-to-PCI is/was a thing, and PCI-to-PCIe is a thing, and modern M.2 slots are PCIe and Thunderbolt/USB4 carry PCIe as well, so connecting a 40-year-old ISA card to a brand-new machine is closer than you might think!

[-]

ukezi@reddit

Modern m.2 Slots can be pcie depending on what keys they are using. B & M Key can also be just sata.

[-]

BinkReddit@reddit

My i486 CPU uses just 5 watts of power

Fair, but a modern ARM will use the same amount of power, but your clock cycles will be 500 times faster!

[-]

ChaiTRex@reddit

A few modern Intel chips have a 5W TDP. For example, i7-8500Y.

[-]

lkangaroo@reddit

Is spacebar still warm for ya?

[-]

martyn_hare@reddit

*laughs in FreeDOS*

[-]

Azakaa@reddit

I miss that 33->66Mhz boost button

[-]

Rich_Artist_8327@reddit

Oh crap the US nuclear missile silos wont open after this update

[-]

asm_lover@reddit

Fairly certain government pays a premium for extended support. That or these devices are more modular than we are lead to believe and you can just replace the computer

[-]

jcol26@reddit

Thankfully they’ve not updated them since 2003 so we good

[-]

skuterpikk@reddit

2003 you say? They're probably still running Windows 95

[-]

jeffryedwardepstein@reddit

The military uses Windows, and the i486 era is when Windows worked ¯⁠\⁠⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠⁠/⁠¯

[-]

INITMalcanis@reddit

Good?

[-]

bd1308@reddit

I started with zipslack on a 486DX4-100 😭

[-]

TheHappiestTeapot@reddit

Are you me? Nobody else remembers zipslack.

[-]

bd1308@reddit

Did you boot zipslack from MSDOS too, or was that optional? I really really miss my zip 100, but I bought a Jaz drive out of nostalgia during covid and never ended up using it

[-]

TheHappiestTeapot@reddit

I don't remember having MSDOS on there at the time.

[-]

bd1308@reddit

It’s just us and Pepperidge farm 😂

[-]

Main_Muffin9062@reddit

“and no known Linux distribution vendors are still shipping with i486 CPU support” Gentoo users are seething rn

[-]

23Link89@reddit

Just watched a video of someone installing a distro with kernel 6.12 on a 486 machine. They had to max out the RAM and literally use a distro which loaded the whole OS on RAM, but it worked which is insanely cool!

But yes, I'm surprised support has lasted even this long.

[-]

graywolf0026@reddit

I mean I'd rather be able to virtualize the 486 hardware in a VM, really. Since... I mean virtualization for a lot of older software is going to be rather key for preservation but.

Yeah. I doubt anyone's lining up to install stuff on a 486DX2-66 right now.

[-]

Kevin_Kofler@reddit

That is not going to work either without kernel support for it though!

[-]

graywolf0026@reddit

.... Well. Whoops.

.... At least I can keep plugging away at my DosBox-X config/build/folder and keep it semi-cross platform.

[-]

INITMalcanis@reddit

Yeah. I doubt anyone's lining up to install stuff on a 486DX2-66 right now.

Next year, now - that might be a different matter...

[-]

VictoryMotel@reddit

I'm sick of these forces upgrades.

[-]

Portbragger2@reddit

just in time for my upgrade to the p200 mmx

[-]

Footz355@reddit

How I cherish my memories of my Cyrix 200 mmx :)

[-]

pie_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_@reddit

I'm sad to see this, but Linux on a 486 was already a struggle. Most Socket 3 boards top out at 16-32 MB RAM, and the only viable distros that can fit in that are a LFS or a really cut down Gentoo/Slackware that's tweaked to an extent that you might as well LFS.

[-]

linmanfu@reddit

Are they not going to be lots of industrial machines, ATMs, etc. still running on 486s?

[-]

pezezin@reddit

I am pretty sure that those machines don't run Linux at all.

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

Weird downvotes. What gives?

[-]

linmanfu@reddit

Reddit fuzzes the displayed vote scores. So if you have a low number of downvotes it might just be random.

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

Ah ok. He/she had like -4 when I looked and I was all "why the hate for THAT comment?". Makes sense now.

Kinda.

[-]

pezezin@reddit

No idea, it seems that some people just down vote randomly.

[-]

criticalpwnage@reddit

Modern distros for sure won’t run. There is probably a linux distro made for vintage computers that would work. Ancient linux distros that came out when this hardware was still being widely used will also work

[-]

Raunien@reddit

You be shocked how many ATMs ran Windows XP until fairly recently

[-]

pie_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_@reddit

I would be pleasantly shocked if they've been bothering to update software for those things in the first place.

[-]

Darkpriest667@reddit

So would I, I've worked with large finance and banking companies and to even get them to do security upgrades on firmware is a monumental task.

They claim it's for security reasons and I have to explain to them, the firmware is closing a security exploit.

So if ATMs and Industrial machines are getting software or firmware updates actually pushed I'd be shocked.

[-]

bargu@reddit

Not only not bothering, they are likely explicitly prohibited from upgrading anything, if it works there's no reason to mess with it.

[-]

NoTime_SwordIsEnough@reddit

I worked for an ATM company a few years ago. Shit was all still running on Windows CE, and testing for some of the hardware components/boards (eg, card reader) was done by connecting them to a small 32-bit Windows XP laptop using runing ancient software & drivers.

You'd be your ass nobody nobody had the source code for the software/drivers, and we had no choice but to reboot the laptop regularly if our hw testing software stopped working for no reason.

[-]

themobyone@reddit

companies don't upgrade the OS on industial machines(CNC, SD, ventilation, and so on). They run the software they were delivered with unless an update comes from the OEM of that particular industrail machine.

[-]

tas50@reddit

ATMs of that era are OS/2 and I'd suspect most of those have been replaced at this point. Hardware just doesn't last that long and downtime costs money. It's not worth keeping a 30 year old ATM running.

[-]

phire@reddit

Most of them aren't true 486s.

They are usually custom CPU cores that implement a roughly 486 class pipeline (though often with improved memory subsystems). They often add the extra instructions required to bring them up to the i586 or i686 ISA, so will continue to work with Linux.

[-]

admiraljkb@reddit

Industrial Equipment of that vintage (that I knew of) was (and still is sometimes) running DOS (yes... DOS), Windows 9x, OS/2, maybe NT3.51 or NT4, sometimes WinCE, and then Win2k or 2003 embedded for the "newer" stuff. Linux was still too new at the time to have traction yet in that space.

[-]

TimChr78@reddit

They are in general not using Linux and if they do they are definitely not using the leading edge kernel.

[-]

Fr0gm4n@reddit

A lot of the old green-screen Diebold ATMs were built on a 386, but ran OS/2. By the time they moved to color LCDs they were post Pentium with Win2k, IIRC.

[-]

ronasimi@reddit

Yes

[-]

i_have_chosen_a_name@reddit

Would you not have access to waaay more workable software on a 486 if you run DOS on it?

[-]

yawn_brendan@reddit

Surely you can use Buildroot? Or is that what you mean by LFS?

[-]

pie_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_@reddit

That's also true, I forgot about Buildroot.

[-]

I_miss_your_mommy@reddit

I’m just going to re-install from the cdrom I got in the back of my Linux book from when I last installed Slackware on my 486 30 years ago.

[-]

kali_tragus@reddit

My first Slackware installation was from a stack of \~25 floppies. Compiling a new kernel took several hours. Just another part of the "good" old days.

[-]

ausstieglinks@reddit

Wouldn’t this be more relevant to modern embedded 486 derived chips that can have lots of ram?

[-]

RebronSplash60@reddit

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[-]

themobyone@reddit

It was a good run I say. Let's move forward :)

[-]

imgly@reddit

Oh no !... Anyway

[-]

rbitton@reddit

Do 32-bit x86 next

[-]

Midori_Kasugano@reddit

What's next?? Will they remove support for 3dfx graphic cards?

[-]

Huge_Lingonberry5888@reddit

At last, anything pre-2005 got to be removed, sick of this BS - "lets support some 50y old shaitery...coz of 2 dudes in china's basement.

[-]

jeffryedwardepstein@reddit

ok updooter

[-]

Kevin_Kofler@reddit

Linux again jumping on the vendors' planned obsolescence bandwagon. :-(

[-]

jeffryedwardepstein@reddit

ppl be like "I'm installing Linux to extend the life of my laptop" and then this happens

[-]

jeffryedwardepstein@reddit

ppl be like "I'm installing Linux to extend the life of my laptop" and then this happens

[-]

flatroundworm@reddit

This is actually potentially a big deal - a lot of industrial cnc equpment used the 486 long after it stopped going in consumer PCs

[-]

bargu@reddit

You're not going to find any industrial equipment running kernel 7, let alone one that still runs on a 486.

[-]

KittensInc@reddit

It's the classic counterpart to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it": if you never bother to upgrade, you lose the ability to upgrade when you have to.

[-]

Klenkogi@reddit

Those industrial CNC devices are running on kernel version 3.x.

[-]

0riginal-Syn@reddit

That is what SLTS are for.

[-]

kopsis@reddit

Few are still running those original controllers, few of those ran Linux (many were MS-DOS), few of those are still operational, few of those have upgraded beyond their original kernel major version because doing so breaks the custom device drivers and changes time-sensitive behaviour. The vanishingly small number of remaining devices can just stay on a 6.x LTS kernel and will likely be dead or replaced long before that becomes an actual liability.

[-]

snail1132@reddit

You'll note that they are not on the latest kernels

[-]

Neither-Phone-7264@reddit

they are on 7.0 zen

[-]

Liarus_@reddit

Not really, these systems aren't bleeding edge rolling release distros, the majority, if not, all of them are run offline, and if they aren't they should be

[-]

Possibly-Functional@reddit

Do they really provide software updates for those machines still? As in the latest and greatest Linux kernel? Is there a community project that maintains a distro for them? Genuine questions, because if not then nothing really changes for them.

[-]

ZX_BURP_77@reddit

See: CIP

[-]

Possibly-Functional@reddit

Am I missing something? Because i don't spot it in the arch directory. It's also not in the reference hardware testing list, though that's not all encompassing. Note that neither i486 nor CIP is my area of expertise.

[-]

al2klimov@reddit

This is unacceptable! I have an i686 btw: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gentoo/comments/1rkvqe4/for_educational_purposes/

[-]

julioqc@reddit

Can you realistically run a 6.x.x kernel on a i486 machine? Anything possible with Linux (and BSD) of course, but out of the box?

[-]

anh0516@reddit

NetBSD still builds for i486.

[-]

Ybalrid@reddit

I think it will be faster to list architectures you cannot install NetBSD on, rather than the other way around...!

[-]

mglyptostroboides@reddit

Oh look. Someone else mentioned NetBSD in this thread. Neat coincidence.

Anyway, I can vouch. I love putting NetBSD on old Macs, turning them into useful, modern machines.

[-]

the_humeister@reddit

Big endian PowerPC64

[-]

inaccurateTempedesc@reddit

Tempe64

[-]

BemusedBengal@reddit

TempleOS is a software that ran on x86 (not 64-bit).

[-]

Ybalrid@reddit

Nah it’s 64bit

[-]

inaccurateTempedesc@reddit

Nah, I just like to think that if he hadn't passed away, he would've probably tried to develop his own CPU architecture free from the clutches of satan and glowies.

[-]

hoeding@reddit

Calculator watch

[-]

arf20__@reddit

NetBSD still builds for m68k

[-]

the_humeister@reddit

It still builds for VAX

[-]

arf20__@reddit

It still builds for alpha

[-]

ChaiTRex@reddit

It still builds for the Bletchley Park bombe.

[-]

mofomeat@reddit

And my axe!

[-]

johncate73@reddit

Of course they do. How else would it run NetBSD?

[-]

TemporarySun314@reddit

I mean you won't find a distro for that, so you will have to build anything yourself. But with some old grub and busybox, you can probably build some minimal shell environment quite easy.

It might that the driver support might be quite limited, as Linux Kernel throw old some old subsystems and support for old devices. But for basic text output and keyboard parsing will work I think.

[-]

julioqc@reddit

tiny core

[-]

UncleSlacky@reddit

you won't find a distro for that

AOSC Retro still supports it.

[-]

A_Harmless_Fly@reddit

Tiny core is 6.x.x, and I've seen it work on cartage Pentiums out of the box.

[-]

julioqc@reddit

forgot that one, makes sense!

[-]

SharktasticA@reddit

I have a project tackling this very thing called SHORK 486. Its build script automates building a 6.x kernel, BusyBox, my custom utilities and hand-picked software for it. Yes, running a 6.x kernel on 486 isn't much of a problem, in my experience. (Performant) software for the system is a bigger challenge. This has largely been fine for my goals as they are mostly been to turn my old ThinkPads into better 'typewriters', and run a modern SSH client so I can just work through them on a more modern machine, whilst also still have a reasonable set of local utilities and software for messing around with. Then after that, mostly pushing the boundaries to see what actually does run and if it can be made to run acceptably.

I think you may be pleasantly surprised to see how it runs and especially how low the memory usage is. I've got it booting on 7MB RAM. But make no mistake, 486 is still a 486 and there are tasks where you will notice. Off the top of my head, when using file to identify files that are into the MB range, and for anything GUI related (SHORK 486 has the option for a GUI with TinyX + TWM). If all possible really want a late 486 or Cyrix 5x86, if not a Pentium (P5). But for just writing something, SSH'ing, doing some quick and dirty C projects, I think it's acceptable. I don't expect this usecase to be mainstream of course, but I'm having fun!

[-]

strolls@reddit

when using file to identify files that are into the MB range,

I thought file read only the first few bytes of the file?

The man page refers to three tests, but I don't think it details them.

[-]

BemusedBengal@reddit

Some magic numbers are stored at the end of the file.

[-]

SharktasticA@reddit

Indeed. To be fair though, I haven't done any 'scientific' testing of this specifically, it's just what I've noticed through use and the file sizes I see. It's entirely possible this is a huge coincidence or something else, and I should perhaps rephrase to expect slowness with file. The magic database itself is also relatively massive to the rest of the system, so especially on old hard drives, perhaps poor access/loading speed plays a part too. But some things are identified much more quickly.

[-]