3 ms·
I have nothing useful to comment other than hope and whimsy. Hope: I loved the idea that the linux kernel not only freed new software from the shackles of corp
by tetris11 3y ago
I have nothing useful to comment other than hope and whimsy.
Hope: I loved the idea that the linux kernel not only freed new software from the shackles of corporate influence, but elevated old hardware and pushed them to reach their full potential using new CS concepts.
Whimsy: I loved the idea that a time traveller from 2036 could take a modern linux kernel and run it on a 1976 IBM 5100, and debug various legacy program issues that existed in the future. The Linux kernel is the best weapon we can give to such a traveller.
- bluepizza 3y agoSuch traveller can use a snapshot of a Linux distro from 2010. Just because it is out of mainline, it doesn't mean that the past disappeared. A major part of hardware preservation is software preservation. We can't expect Linux in 2023 to still support i386, but we have several Slackware ISO images that contain everything we need to operate this machine.
- creshal 3y agoItanium never had much potential to begin with, and the amount of systems that ever made it out of corporate vaults can probably be counted on two hands. If those companies want to fix their decades of neglect, they can pay kernel maintainers for the upkeep.