You can now run Linux on your ancient Windows 95 desktop with a new tool — very old Windows PCs, back to Intel 486, can cooperatively run very modern Linux kernels with WSL9x

A developer released WSL9x, a three-part tool that lets modern Linux kernels run alongside Windows 95/9x on legacy PCs.

It supports even Intel 486-era hardware and uses cooperative multitasking instead of virtualization or rebooting.

The setup can run Linux and Windows apps side by side on machines once thought far too old for this kind of compatibility.

The timing is notable because Linux maintainers are moving to drop i486 support from the mainline kernel.