Slackware was typically compiled so the binaries would run on an i386 computer. Not long ago packages started having the i486 instead of the i386 architecture, and I remember Patrick Volkerding mentioning that newer versions of GCC are unable to generate i386-restricted code, so the minimum processor is now i486. If the kernel has dropped support for old versions of GCC, maybe it can no longer be compiled, at least with GCC, to generate i386 code. However, that's not the same as saying that i386 support has been dropped from the kernel. I _think_ the i386 code is still there.
GCC issue
Slackware was typically compiled so the binaries would run on an i386 computer. Not long ago packages started having the i486 instead of the i386 architecture, and I remember Patrick Volkerding mentioning that newer versions of GCC are unable to generate i386-restricted code, so the minimum processor is now i486. If the kernel has dropped support for old versions of GCC, maybe it can no longer be compiled, at least with GCC, to generate i386 code. However, that's not the same as saying that i386 support has been dropped from the kernel. I _think_ the i386 code is still there.