The Linux 3.8 release is the first new Linux kernel release of 2013, and follows the Linux 3.7 kernelwhich debuted in December. Among the big items in the Linux 3.7 release was improved support for the ARM processor architecture. In contrast, the Linux 3.8 kernel does not add an processor architecture, instead it is removing one.
Linux 3.8 is the first Linux kernel, since the creation of the operating source operating system by Linus Torvalds to not support the Intel 386 chip architecture. The change is technically known as, Nuke 386-DX/SX support.