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Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

pcworld.com

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Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#31

Post by imron »

DanBC wrote: post #17
StreakyCobra wrote: post #12

It is one of the reasons that makes me love Arch: developers are pragmatic. They were always in the early birds for taking decision about the future, like switching to Python3 as default interpreter system-wide, embracing the change to systemd, and now this. The rolling release aspect imposes to stay as close as possible to upstream versions because upstream does not wait on Arch to update their dependencies to newer…

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

> (once the drivers get fixed)

I suspect this means they'll end up in the landfill regardless.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#32

Post by Volundr »

jwilk wrote: post #27
__s wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If people want 32 bit pointers on 64 bit hardware they should pick the x32 ABI instead

...which is not supported by Arch either.

What do you mean? The announcement specifically says multilib is unaffected. I run 32-bit programs all the time.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#33

Post by jasonkostempski »

FreeBSD did this too, right after I had just setup a local Minecraft server on an old Pentium D. It's a shame because it works perfectly for that purpose and now it'll just have to sit on FreeBSD 10 for the rest of it's life. I don't plan expose it to the outside world so that's OK for me, but surely 32-bit machines still have a purpose.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#34

Post by jonathonf »

StreakyCobra wrote: post #25
DanBC wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

There are other distributions better suited (even specialized) to be run on old hardware.

Which ones provide a similar approach to Arch?

A six-year-old 32-bit processor (e.g. an Atom in an EeePC 901 or HP Mini 311c) is more than capable of running a modern desktop system.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#36

Post by jonathonf »

tbranyen wrote: post #22
DanBC wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

Install an earlier (supported) version of Arch, or use a different distro are the options to try before a landfill.

That's not how Arch works... ;)

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#37

Post by jbarbs »

DanBC wrote: post #17
StreakyCobra wrote: post #12

It is one of the reasons that makes me love Arch: developers are pragmatic. They were always in the early birds for taking decision about the future, like switching to Python3 as default interpreter system-wide, embracing the change to systemd, and now this. The rolling release aspect imposes to stay as close as possible to upstream versions because upstream does not wait on Arch to update their dependencies to newer…

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

Absolutely! I have a perfectly good little netbook currently running lubuntu 32-bit. If other distros were to follow suit then they would quickly render my netbook useless.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#38

Post by sevensor »

DanBC wrote: post #17
StreakyCobra wrote: post #12

It is one of the reasons that makes me love Arch: developers are pragmatic. They were always in the early birds for taking decision about the future, like switching to Python3 as default interpreter system-wide, embracing the change to systemd, and now this. The rolling release aspect imposes to stay as close as possible to upstream versions because upstream does not wait on Arch to update their dependencies to newer…

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

I run Arch on most everything -- up to now it's worked great on old hardware as long as I'm judicious about what I install. When they stop updating 32bit, I suppose I'll switch to Tiny Core. Or rather, well after they stop updating 32bit and Tiny Core catches up.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#39

Post by morganvachon »

yAnonymous wrote: post #30

Reposted with added "upstart" so Arch fanboys can't nitpick their way out of this.

> stuck to SysVinit and told users "you want Systemd, make a package" until long after the big distros had made the switch

Bullshit, Arch was one of the first to switch to systemd as the default way back in 2012. The only "big distros" that switched before Arch were Fedora (obviously since that's where it came from), Mageia which is based on Fedora, and OpenSUSE (but not SLES). The next distro to switch was CoreOS a full year later, and Debian didn't switch until 2015.

I'm not a fan of Arch anymore either, but if you're going to disparage any distro, at least get your facts straight.

Edit: Getting my own facts straight: Mageia was based on Mandriva, not Fedora.

Re: Arch Linux pulls the plug on 32-bit

#40

Post by morganvachon »

sevensor wrote: post #38
DanBC wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Side effect will be that people will be encouraged to get a modern computer if not already. All those netbooks (atom processors; 1 GB or 2 GB ram; 32 GB hard drive) would be great with Linux (once the drivers get fixed) and really benefit from 32 bit because of the ram limitations. Now? They'll end up in landfill.

I run Arch on most everything -- up to now it's worked great on old hardware as long as I'm judicious about what I install. When they stop updating 32bit, I suppose I'll switch to Tiny Core. Or rather, well after they stop updating 32bit and Tiny Core catches up.

Debian will likely support 32 bit until the heat death of the universe, and Slackware probably will as well. There are also the BSDs; OpenBSD and NetBSD in particular will enjoy a long life on non-x64 hardware.
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