I won’t repeat the whole message but

https://www.cip-project.org/about/linux-kernel-core-packages

There will be a Linux Foundation supported kernel that can be built for 486 until at least 2035. After that, you might have to backport security fixes yourself.

I think you are good on your mail server for a while.

Linux kernel 6.15 will still boot on a 486. You can pair that with MUSL 1.25 (current) and the latest Busybox to create a perfectly viable Linux system.

Debian Trixie is going to be released in a couple months with kernel 6.12 LTS.

As somebody pointed out in a different post, the Linux Foundation will provide support for kernel 6.12 for 10 years after Debian Trixie is released.

https://www.cip-project.org/about/linux-kernel-core-packages

So, there will be a supported kernel that can be compiled for the 486 until mid 2035 at least.

Viola

https://github.com/marmolak/gray486linux

You can kind of still buy them:

https://www.vortex86.com/products/Vortex86DX3

Our Canadian EV bus maker is about to go bankrupt (Lion Electric).

Got it. I was not familiar with this Linux Foundation initiative. Very cool.

It looks like they support the LTS kernels as an extension of Debian. So, kernel 6.12 will get 10 years of support after Debian Trixie launches with it this summer.

That means 486 will be fully supported until at least mid 2035. Amazing.

As somebody that offered a “correction”, I can assure you that I did not downvote.

The Linux kernel still supports Pentium but most Linux distros do not. The only two I can think of are Adelie and Gentoo. Nothing based on Debian does (Pentium Pro minimum).

There are still ATMs running OS/2 and probably lots of POS systems running DOS.

The latest kernels still work on 486 - kernel 6.14 currently.

What does the age of the hardware have to do with it?

You can run a 486 today with the latest Linux kernel, the latest C library, and the latest utilities. A 486 is not vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown. It may be more secure than a typical i7.

Come to think of it. Acting as a bastion server may be a legitimate use of a 486 today.

The NVIDIA problems are historical.

You will notice the people that actually have NVIDIA cards all say NVIDIA works.

The people saying NVIDIA does not work are all using AMD. They may have owned NVIDIA in the past and there may have been issues. But those issues have been resolved.

NVIDIA is fine.

There were real issues with NVIDIA. They have been resolved.

That said, when something is “fixed” in Linux, it comes to different distros at different times. Some distros will get the fixes almost immediately. Others will not see them for 2 - 3 years. As we are within that window, how well NVIDIA works depends on what distro you use.

If you use an up-to-date distro like something Arch based (maybe EndeavourOS), things work well. Even fairly current distros like those that are Fedora based should be fine at this point. However, if you use something that moves a little shower, like Mint or especially Debian, you may still have problems with NVIDIA today.

AMD has worked well on Linux for many years and so it is a reliable choice regardless of distro.

Don’t forget that Intel exists as well. At the low to mid-end, they represent good value. They have good Linux support.

GNOME mostly abandons their old apps. However, in some cases, the Xapps project has taken over these older code bases.

https://linuxmint-developer-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/xapps.html

It should say 486DX or better as NetBSD requires an FPU.

But apparently somebody has been working on SoftFPU support and they just released a first version a week ago!

https://github.com/mezantrop/i486SX_soft_FPU?tab=readme-ov-file

Make sure it is not a 486SX. NetBSD requires an FPU. Linux is able to emulate one in software.

The Linux kernel is well over 30 million lines of code (lots of that is drivers).

This change shrinks the kernel by about 15,000 lines. That is not nothing, but it hardly moves the needle.

It is just one less thing to have to worry about and one less constraint to limit flexibility in the future.

Latest 486 “distro” released 3 months ago:

https://github.com/marmolak/gray486linux

Same userland as Alpine Linux. Newer version of MUSL than current Void Linux ships with. Up to the minute kernel.

The oldest kernel version still getting updates at kernel.org is from 6 years ago. So, we may still have active 486 support in official kernels for years yet.

Even after that, the kernel will stay available. You can always backport any important security fixes yourself.

And this is just the kernel. A 486 will run current c libraries for decades most likely.

You can still use Linux on 386 and Git commits as recent as a year ago say things like “adding support for new hardware”.

https://github.com/marmolak/gray386linux

Again, even on a 386 you have the same C library and userland as found in current Alpine Linux.

I switched to Mandrake for that (back in the day).

I think you can still buy new 486 compatible chips today.

https://www.vortex86.com/