The Linux kernel is beginning to phase out support for AMD's three-decade-old K5 processors. This follows similar removals of drivers for other vintage hardware in recent releases.
Developers have started removing code for certain i586 and i686 class processors. The changes target systems that lack modern features such as the Time Stamp Counter on older GPUs and CPUs. Linux 7.1 had already begun phasing out support for Intel's i486 chips from the late 1980s. Linux 7.2 then dropped drivers for the even older AMD Elan 32-bit systems on a chip. The current effort focuses on AMD K5 processors introduced around 1996. Phoronix reports that the cleanup aims to simplify maintenance of the kernel codebase. No timeline has been given for when the changes will appear in a stable release.