Linux Kills Ancient x86 Fallbacks
unknownuniverse.uk
As Linux 7.2 makes the Time Stamp Counter mandatory, we look at why dropping legacy x86 fallback timing code is long overdue.

Linux 7.2 has landed, dragging x86 timing clean out of the nineties by making the Time Stamp Counter mandatory.

I wrote up a quick article on why ditching those ancient legacy fallbacks is good housekeeping, plus a few other bits like cache-aware scheduling and memory tweaks worth noting.

Is anyone still using legacy hardware? If so, what do you use it for?

    • burlemarx@lemmygrad.ml
      0·
      2 months ago

      Sir, I think you are overreacting. Nobody is running a 7+ Linux Kernel on a 486 machine. Even if you have microcontrollers with a 486 instruction set, I am pretty sure they already fixed the timestamp issue, or they don’t need Linux at all since it’s an embedded application.