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Go Retro in Order to Build a Spectre and Meltdown-Proof x86 Desktop

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 10 2018, @01:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the found-at-the-bottom-of-the-closet dept.

"MrPlow" writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

[Yeo Kheng Meng] had a question: what is the oldest x86 processor that is still supported by a modern Linux kernel? Furthermore, is it actually possible to use modern software with this processor? It's a question that surely involves experimentation, staring into the bluescreen abyss of BIOS configurations, and compiling your own kernel. Considering Linux dropped support for the 386 in 2012, the obvious answer is a 486. This supposition was tested, and the results are fantastic. You can, indeed, install a modern Linux on an ancient desktop.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2018/01/07/go-retro-to-build-a-spectre-and-meltdown-proof-x86-desktop/

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:15AM (4 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Wednesday January 10 2018, @04:15AM (#620337) Journal
    "Infinity. By the time the compile is done, source code has been updated, and you're back to compiling. Sigh."

    This means you have installed too much stuff. Remove something useless and try again.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @08:30AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @08:30AM (#620387)

    This was something I did around 2004 (Gentoo on i486), most things weren't really problematic at that time... but don't build libreoffice or something like that. Also take into consideration that some newer software takes large chunks of memory to build (which is normally not available on i486).

  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday January 13 2018, @11:54PM (2 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Saturday January 13 2018, @11:54PM (#621997)

    "Infinity. By the time the compile is done, source code has been updated, and you're back to compiling. Sigh."

    This means you have installed too much stuff. Remove something useless and try again.

    I agree with your sentiment- I run systems lean and mean. I don't think you grasped my attempt at humor: the idea was that a compile on a Commodore 128 would take so long- for pretty much anything- that by the time the compile + link is done, someone has released an update to the source code and you're back to compiling. That would be true for the Linux kernel for sure.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:01AM (1 child)

      by Arik (4543) on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:01AM (#622082) Journal
      Oh I got what you were saying, it's just completely inaccurate.

      Now what you said makes sense, don't get me wrong. It's just that you overlooked a very important part of the equation.

      In order to port linux to the c64, you would have to pare it back. And not just a little.

      By the time you hacked out all the stuff that simply could never be made to work on the c64, there wouldn't be all that much to compile. And those constant updates? Almost never touch anything you're using. ;)

      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?

      • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:02AM

        by RS3 (6367) on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:02AM (#622107)

        No, you're completely inaccurate. It's a c128, not c64. And it would be running an i686 emulator. ;-)