Re: [RFC PATCH 0/15] x86: Remove support for TSC-less and CX8-less CPUs

[Maciej W. Rozycki]

On Tue, 6 May 2025, Borislav Petkov wrote:

> >  Doesn't work for ongoing driver maintenance
> 
> Dunno, I'd concentrate my efforts on something, a *little* *bit* more modern.
> At some point this is old rusty hw no matter from which way you look at it and
> it might as well be left to rest in its sunset days.

 One doesn't exclude the other.  I do POWER9 or RISC-V stuff too.  Isn't 
it modern enough?

> What I have problem with is wasting my time maintaining old, ancient hw which
> is not worth the electricity it needs to run. Especially if you can get
> something orders of magnitudes better in *any* aspect you can think of, and
> actually get some real work done.

 I don't want you let alone expect to waste time on anything you're not 
interested in.  I'm trying to find a solution that saves you from that 
while preferably keeping everyone happy enough, including myself.

 Real work?  I find engineering challenges enjoyable regardless of the age 
of hardware involved and I don't want to take away anyone's daily bread 
(including mine) by spending my free time on a project someone might have 
commercial interest in and should pay for.  An obsolete platform is ideal 
for this purpose.

 And what's better and what's not is subjective.  I don't find all the new 
stuff better, just as I don't all the old stuff.  At least the old gear 
tends to be sturdy (once you've contained issues with the PSU) and likely 
won't suffer from electromigration in a few years' time.  It can be easier 
to repair too if a component does fail.

 NB people also fancy old cars, or boats, or trains even, not because 
they're faster, more comfortable, or have any real advantage over modern 
alternatives.

  Maciej