Linux To Remove ISA Speech Synthesizer Driver That Likely Hasn't Been Used In Decades
Linux is set to remove the ISA speech synthesizer driver known as Double Talk in its upcoming 7.2 kernel cycle. This decision follows the trend of phasing out obsolete hardware support to reduce maintenance burdens. The driver has not been actively maintained for over two decades and is likely unused, with similar functionality available through other drivers.
- ▪The Double Talk driver supports the RC Systems DoubleTalk PC ISA speech synthesizer card.
- ▪The driver has not received meaningful updates in over twenty years.
- ▪The removal aims to reduce future maintenance workload for the Linux kernel.
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Linux To Remove ISA Speech Synthesizer Driver That Likely Hasn't Been Used In Decades Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 24 May 2026 at 08:34 AM EDT. Add A Comment Following the process of phasing out Intel 486 CPU support and other old hardware drivers that were dropped in the Linux 7.1 kernel cycle for reducing the kernel maintenance burden, the upcoming Linux 7.2 cycle is continuing the trend of phasing out some of the old hardware support that is very obsolete, likely having no users on the latest upstream kernels, and no one formally maintaining the obsolete drivers. The latest driver on the chopping block is the Double Talk driver as an ISA speech synthesizer driver.
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