On 6/17/20 12:52 PM, Raffaele BELARDI wrote:
Hello,
I might need to build and run an old 3.x kernel on a Desktop PC for some
very specific tests. Would Gentoo be a good solution?
I see that currently gentoo-sources only includes 4.x and 5.x sources.
Thanks,
raffaele
I use a 3.18.40 kernel, currently, on one of my AMD systems. It has
thousands of source build packages, not only from portage but many others.
Occasionally, I have to use another AMD system, with a newer kernel. I
have many old codes, centric to a version 3 of the kernel, that would be
a massive pita to move to a 5 version of the kernel. There are plans, as
many are related to hybrid-optimized cluster that are NOT centric to the
popular cluster codes.
Home made 'systolic array processing' is just one legacy collective of
old codes, I still use.
Many embedded (gentoo) devs still use very old linux kernels for a wide
variety of reasons. Products often developed do not change much, except
to update the firmware for a strong reason.
Thousands (millions?) of companies use very old linux codes, including
kernels for a plethora or reason. They just do not publish it. The old
stuff, if beautiful compared to much of the bloat-ware we have today.
From linux kernels to cluster*. I still run codes on 386/486 machines,
just for grins and as a seed for codes that are minimized. IoT from the
big vendors is so bloated, they cannot even find problems. Old embedded
(gentoo) linux codes run so fast, reliable and easy to collect
performance data. You go down this path, its a game-changer. An
addition, as minimalist coding and small, secure executables are an
artform. Most of the semiconductor manufactures, are *ALWAYS* looking
for those types of coders. Hello (TI)!
So, YES old gentoo is very alive amongst minimalist and corporations.
ymmv. I've run into many that keep incredicle trees of old, reliable
codes. They are often much easier for an EE to use in verification of
functions, Micro-Controllers, FPGA, etc etc etc.
hth,
James
