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SubjectRe: support for '386s be disabled (was: 2.1.42)
Richard B. Johnson wrote:
>
> I just replaced the root file-system, utilities, and kernel in an old
> '386SX (16MHz). Compiled with math emulation, etc.
>
> . . .
>
> The machine will hang. No interrupt activity whatsoever. Looking at
> IRQ0 (timer-tick) on the bus shows it permanently high. Perhaps these
> old machines can't use level-triggered interrupts. It worked with
> an old version of Linux for several years. It still worked before I
> installed 2.1.42. The old version was 0.99 (Yaggdrasl). Now I am
> gonna be in trouble with the owner (an executive).
>
> I will probably have to give him a "new" motherboard with a '486-DX/66
> to get him off my back (I have a old spare).
>
> I would suggest that support for '386s be disabled sometime soon,

What I don't understand about this whole thread is why someone would
blindly assume that a development kernel would work on anything
without testing it first, especially to the exclusion of being able
to go backwards. The kernel installation process renames the old
kernel so you can have it boot if the new one doesn't work, and if
you lost that possibility, you could boot off the Yaggdrasl boot disk
and re-install the old working kernel to salvage your mistakes rather
than giving hardware away. I also think that you can't find any
professional who wouldn't suggest doing a complete backup before any
major changes to any system.

BTW, I have a 386sx-20 as my mail server running 2.1.42 successfully
so I see no need to disable 386 support.

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