Linux kernel drops AppleTalk support

AppleTalk was a local, non-IP networking protocol used by early Macintosh systems, akin to IPX. All Mac OS systems have supported IP networking since the release of System 7.5 in 1994, and have used it more or less exclusively since the release of Mac OS X in 2001. Virtually no Linux software ever supported AppleTalk - the main exception I'm aware of was netatalk, which used it to implement the AFP file sharing protocol, and which also supports AFP over TCP.

All of this is to say that AppleTalk support in Linux had essentially no practical value, even when interoperating with old systems. It's unlikely to be missed.

On the other hand, now they will have less competition.

(What's that? Just keep using an older version of Linux? What kind of retro troglodytes do you think I am?)