Although as early as 2018, some developers added support for Andes’ NDS32 CPU architecture in the Linux 4.17 kernel. Unfortunately, due to the lack of active maintenance, the Linux 5.18 kernel team has decided to remove the support code for the AndesCore NDS32 architecture. The relevant kernel ports have been used to support Andes Technology’s older N13 / N15 / D15 / N10 / D10 series processors.
Phoronix points out that these processor cores use a 16/32-bit AndeStar-like RISC architecture, which is characterized by both high performance and low footprint and is suitable for applications ranging from IoT to digital signal control and other embedded use cases.
Although there are still some AndesCore NDS32 processors in use in the world today, due to the lack of active upstream maintenance of the CPU architecture ports, it is ultimately difficult to escape the fate of obsolescence. According to the asm-generic query request, Linux 5.18 will officially remove the kernel code support for NDS32. Arnd Bermann concludes:
The nds32 architecture will say goodbye to its journey in the Linux kernel, the related hardware is still in use and the code is being used reasonably, but unfortunately, the mainline port is no longer actively maintained.
Because of this, all remaining users are considered no longer required to update to future vendor kernel versions. Given that AndeStar V3-era hardware only appeared in deeply customized embedded systems, the vast majority of modern Linux kernel users no longer have the need to continue running NDS32.
The good news is that out-of-tree kernel ports like Andes Tech’s SDK are still around, and the existing Linux Long Term Support (LTS) kernel series will still have NDS32 support for a while. On the other hand, AndesCore processors based on 32/64-bit RISC-V design (such as AndesStar V5 instruction set architecture), the future is quite bright.