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Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support

From cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross)
Newsgroups comp.os.linux.misc
Subject Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support
Date 2026-04-30 13:46 +0000
Organization PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC
Message-ID <10svmfn$8kj$1@reader1.panix.com> (permalink)
References <10sbn6f$2kkkk$8@dont-email.me> <69f13be9@news.ausics.net> <wwvse8eurrp.fsf@LkoBDZeT.terraraq.uk> <69f28e2d@news.ausics.net>

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In article <69f28e2d@news.ausics.net>,
Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
>Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> [snip]
>> As you can see it does consider the possibility that the affected
>> hardware is still used, but that is only part of the story: drivers will
>> only stay in the kernel if someone is willing to maintain them.
>
>[snip]
>Yes I get your point not to complain about what you get for free,
>but like I say the BSDs have the same price tag, and if Linux
>starts forcing me to spend time and money on upgrading to new (old)
>hardware every few years (or more money buying brand new hardware
>to get driver support for longer) when my old hardware still runs
>all the application software I use, is it really free for me?

I hesitate to wade into this, but the issue isn't that Linux is
forcing anyone to do anything.  Rather, these changes are just
an acknowledgement that the project as a whole doesn't have the
resources to continue supporting this hardware.

This may seem somewhat ironic, since Linux is arguably the most
well-resourced and well-staffed operating system ever written; I
would wager at this point that more people have contributed to
the Linux kernel than have contributed to any other OS project
in history, and that collectively, it has enjoyed access to more
resources than any other, as well.  It probably runs on more
devices than any other system in history, as well (maybe some
rinky dink RTOS beats it on sheer numbers, but I doubt it); it
is certainly the most important operating system in the world.

However, that does not mean that those resources are infinite,
and the key here is that no one was maintaining the code.  If
someone had been, then I doubt any of this would have been
removed.  Most of the people working on Linux now days are doing
so on behalf of some company, which implies that their
incentives aren't merely to keep old hardware working simply for
the sake of doing so.

What this means is that, if one wants to use old hardware, and
one wants to use it with a current version of Linux, then one
should seek to ensure that support for that hardware is
maintained.  That can take several shapes: one might be doing
the work oneself.  If you're using hardware and you want to keep
using that hardware, then perhaps taking on the burden of
keeping the drivers for that hardware up to date and well
maintained is appropriate.  Another might be to contribute to
funding the maintenance of those drivers.

So, to answer the question, "is it free for me?" the answer is
no, it is not.  But it never has been.  Yes, presumably you
installed whatever distribution you are using gratis, and yes,
it has worked for you for some time.  But that's largely
coincidence: if you had some obscure hardware device that had
never been supported at all, you would be in largely the same
situation.  The reality is that it only ever "worked" because
someone ate the cost of doing the work to make it work, and
offered the result of that work up for no charge; but the cost
was still paid in terms of someone's time and effort, with no
guarantee of continued effort indefinitely into the future.

What we are seeing now is that no one is stepping up to bear
that continued cost, and so the effort has ceased; again, no
one is "forcing" you to do anything.  A way to look at it is
you can't force developers to continue to support something on
their own dime that you're not willing to pay for yourself,
either monetarily or with your own time and effort.

It's really no more complex than that, I'm afraid.

	- Dan C.

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Thread

AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-22 23:55 +0000
  Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-04-22 20:28 -0400
    Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-24 08:10 +1000
  Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> - 2026-04-23 16:15 +0200
    Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-23 17:43 +0100
  Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-24 08:35 +1000
    Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-23 23:47 +0000
      Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2026-04-24 18:31 +1000
        Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-26 07:29 +0100
          Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-26 09:41 +0200
            Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-26 08:59 +0100
              Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-26 09:28 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-27 08:43 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-27 07:18 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-27 11:20 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2026-04-27 07:59 -0700
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-27 16:57 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-27 18:18 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-04-28 04:33 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-27 11:19 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-27 13:10 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-28 08:29 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-27 18:14 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2026-04-27 12:10 -0700
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-28 08:48 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-28 07:51 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-29 08:59 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-29 07:52 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-04-29 10:28 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-29 12:56 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-29 18:46 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2026-04-29 21:22 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-04-29 21:27 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> - 2026-05-01 09:20 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 14:01 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> - 2026-05-01 15:46 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 22:55 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-05-02 10:09 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-05-02 12:39 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> - 2026-05-02 22:35 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-29 08:53 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-30 09:03 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-30 08:53 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-05-01 08:53 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-30 23:41 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-30 11:08 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-01 00:14 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-04-30 13:46 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-30 16:50 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-05-01 09:04 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) - 2026-05-01 00:05 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-28 09:56 +0100
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 08:27 -0700
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-28 18:37 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-28 22:44 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-29 03:42 +0000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Marc Haber <mh+usenetspam2616@zugschl.us> - 2026-04-28 22:43 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2026-04-28 14:18 -0700
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-04-29 08:46 +1000
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> - 2026-04-28 16:31 -0700
              Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-26 11:47 +0100
              Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-26 14:02 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Harold Stevens <wookie@aspen.localdomain> - 2026-04-26 12:14 -0500
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-04-26 20:58 +0200
                Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support rbowman <bowman@montana.com> - 2026-04-26 18:30 +0000
    Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> - 2026-04-24 09:29 +0100
    Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Anthk GM <anthk@disroot.org> - 2026-05-05 08:23 +0000
      Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-05 09:07 +0000

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