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Lintel is a portmanteau used to describe a computing platform consisting of the Linux operating system running on CPUs which are compatible with the x86 instruction set defined by Intel for their microprocessors.
Origins
As Unix and Unix-like operating systems make use of hardware memory protection, the first x86 processors were inadequate for them (8088, 8086 and 80186 had no protected mode, and the protected mode of 80286 was felt to be poorly implemented). When Intel's 80386 arrived, complete with a memory management unit, it was only a matter of time until Unix-like operating systems would be written for the PC platform. The first of those was 386BSD, and Linux (more accurately the Linux kernel with the GNU system) soon followed. Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel on his 386 machine, and it became the leading Unix-like operating system for the PC. The "Lintel" platform was thus born, though not named as such at its first years. Though Linux has been ported to several other architectures, x86 hardware remains its principal platform.
Intel and Linux
The name "Lintel" is based on "Wintel", the standard appellation for the ubiquitous Windows on Intel platform. Though Microsoft and Intel seem to be working in full concert, the fact is they have been in competition with each other for a long time. Microsoft turned to other chip makers for its pocket PCs and games consoles, while Intel worked with Linux developers on improving hardware support. Of note is that Intel first tested its IA-64 chips on Linux, as Microsoft was in no rush to provide a 64-bit version of Windows for them. (Microsoft later sided with AMD's 64-bit AMD64 (x86-64), because it offered quality 32-bit backwards compatibility.)
Significance
The chief significance of the Lintel platform is the eruption of Unix into the PC world. Unix had hitherto been confined to expensive hardware. With the coming of Unix to commodity PC hardware, it also had to adapt to the demands of mainstream PC users, such as consistent, easy-to-use graphical user interfaces. The desktop environments KDE and GNOME were developed for Lintel PCs, and from there they spread onto the rest of the Unix world, replacing outdated systems like CDE, even on proprietary Unices.
Also, for parts of the world where pricing is a serious issue, Lintel serves as a budget solution. The hardware being already cheap enough, as x86 hardware is, the remaining issue with Wintel is the price of the software license for Windows; Lintel PCs are affordable even for low budgets.
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