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Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support

Message-ID <69ee94fe@news.ausics.net> (permalink)
From not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev)
Subject Re: AI Is Killing Some Legacy Hardware Support
Newsgroups comp.os.linux.misc
References (3 earlier) <69eb2a5f@news.ausics.net> <10skbd3$1cssv$3@dont-email.me> <10skfk3$93hh$1@news1.tnib.de> <10skglm$1ej2r$1@dont-email.me> <wwvwlxu5dnr.fsf@LkoBDZeT.terraraq.uk>
Date 2026-04-27 08:43 +1000
Organization Ausics - https://newsgroups.ausics.net

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Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> writes:
>> On 2026-04-26, Marc Haber wrote:
>>> Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>>On 2026-04-24, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>>>>> rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On 24 Apr 2026 08:35:51 +1000, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
>>>>>>> Yikes, and I see as well as network drivers they're starting the
>>>>>>> process of dropping PCMCIA support:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.1-Drops-Old-PCMCIA-Code
> 
> They started the process at least as far back as 2023:
> 
> https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9b12f050c76f090cc6d0aebe0ef76fed79ec3f15
> 
>>>>Sigh. My main laptop has PCMCIA, and I make use of it for a sane WLAN
>>>>experience...
>>>
>>> You can probably get a twice as fast machine for a hundred euros.
>>
>> And then it will meet a similar fate when some other technology or
>> hardware it uses is dropped by Linux? If I wanted that kind of
>> treatment, I'd still be using Windows.
>>
>> Sure, there may be cases where such an upgrade is possible, money
>> available, but this really sounds like a warning sign.
> 
> Unmaintained code gets removed, this is not a new thing, ancient
> hardware has been falling out of support for many years now.

True, but usually niche things like the Micro Channel bus, or
industry-specific hardware. For over a decade almost everyone
running Linux on a laptop would have had a PCMCIA slot. Dropping
that (and other relatively recent changes and discussions) is a
new indication that the developers don't care anymore about keeping
old hardware going. Even though Linux has really been very good
at it and is now picking up many new users on that basis since
Windows has become even more extreme with their enforcement of
hardware obsolescence.

> If you don't want to replace the affected hardware then your
> options are to maintain the code yourself or pay someone to do
> so. Nobody is doing it for free.

That's a bit contradictory. If I chose to maintain the code myself
then I _would_ be "doing it for free". But yes the most active
Linux kernel developers will be in the employ of companies that
won't have much incentive to maintain drivers for old hardware.
That can also manifest as an unwillingness to even work with
individuals who do want to maintain old drivers for free
themselves.

But in the BSD world I don't imagine anyone's employed to keep
NetBSD running on the Amiga or 32bit SPARC, yet people do. So I
don't think it's hopeless, it's just a matter of culture. I hope
some BSDs will remain accommodating of old hardware users.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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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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