Linux Drops ISDN Subsystem and Other Old Network Drivers

Source: Slashdot

“Old code like amateur radio and NFC have long been a burden to core networking developers,” reads the pull request.

And so Thursday Linus Torvalds merged the pull request to rid the Linux kernel of the old Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) subsystem, reports Phoronix, “and various other old network drivers largely for PCMCIA‑era network adapters.”

The removal was prompted by a recent influx of AI/LLM‑generated bug reports targeting this dated code, which likely has no active upstream users remaining. With large language models and increased code fuzzing uncovering potential issues in drivers for obsolete hardware, it became easier to drop these drivers when no one is actively using the decades‑old hardware.

What was removed

• The entire ISDN subsystem (≈138,161 lines of code eliminated).
• Legacy ATM device drivers.
• Amateur ham‑radio support.
• Old PCMCIA network adapters, including:
  • 3Com 3c509 / 3c515 / 3c574 / 3c589
  • AMD Lance and AMD NMCLAN
  • SMSC SMC9194 / SMC91C92
  • Fujitsu FMVJ18X
  • 8390‑based adapters (AX88190 / Ultra / WD80X3)

Additional clean‑ups in Linux 7.1

• Removal of the long‑obsolete bus mouse support.
• Beginning the phase‑out of Intel 486 CPU support.
• Dropping support for Russia’s Baikal CPUs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.