The Linux kernel is accelerating removal of legacy device drivers, partly as a response to LLM-powered vulnerability detection tools finding old bugs in ancient code. Patches are in progress to remove drivers for 3Com network cards, Xircom PCMCIA cards, Hamachi and Yellowfin PCI gigabit adapters, AX.25 ham radio drivers, ATM networking, and ISDN CAPI support — potentially eliminating nearly 30,000 lines of code. The long-discussed removal of 80486 CPU support may also land in kernel 7.1. The T2 Linux distribution has confirmed it will continue supporting i486 and older hardware independently.
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