Stable kernel 2.0.40 released [LWN.net]

Stable kernel 2.0.40 released

Posted Feb 9, 2004 9:37 UTC (Mon) by JoeF (subscriber, #4486)
In reply to: Stable kernel 2.0.40 released by gavino
Parent article: Stable kernel 2.0.40 released

It dissapoints me that there is still interest in these old kernels. It dilutes the user and testing base for the newer kernels, and we should be looking to the future, not be stuck in the past.
We are not like M$, forcing people to upgrade to newer systems because there is no support for old stuff anymore...
I am running 2.0 on an old Pentium 1 with 32MB RAM. Runs a webserver, and that's about it. Had an uptime of over 1 year (until yesterday, when I installed 2.0.40.)
Now that doesn't mean that I don't run 2.6. In fact, I do, on my main firewall box.
But, why change a running system?

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Stable kernel 2.0.40 released

Posted Feb 10, 2004 0:12 UTC (Tue) by alexboy8181 (guest, #19321) [Link]

It dissapoints me that there is still interest in these old kernels. It dilutes the user and testing base for the newer kernels, and we should be looking to the future, not be stuck in the past.

The reason for having interest in older kernels is that you never know where they might turn up next. Ironically, I have to quote Dr. Andrew Tannenbaum, who used an example of memory management overlays in his latest book on OSes. He wrote that overlays, which used to be common in older OSes, became obsolete when memories grew. But now overlays are found in handhelds' OSes like PalmPilot. Obsolete one year, hot the next.

Besides, if you don't learn from past mistakes, you're bound to repeat them in the future. Likewise, if you don't learn from a truimph, you're gonna reinvent the wheel later.