Debian 12 is one of the last holdouts of 32-bit support if you’re like me and have some pretty old devices still kicking. Just a couple years left.
Originally I was an advocate for dropping 32-bit support, but now that getting newer devices is increasingly unaffordable… I actually think it might be a good idea to reverse course on that just a little and keep 32-blt support for just a little longer. At least until after the AI bubble finally fucking pops.
I started using 32 bit stuff after experiencing how they tend to be much lighter on memory. A 32 bit os can make a 2~4gb machine very usable. I even find myself thinking if changing everything to 64 bits was really necessary
I can wholeheartedly recommend NetBSD if you want rock solid and eternally dependable backward compatibility forever.
This was me, pulling out an old netbook trying to figure out which distro it could still run. 🫤
What all 32 bit stuff do you need to replace?
There are still distros that support 32-bit besides Debian 12, like Alpine and Void. Until when, that’s unknown.
I tried to re-use a phone for some command line stuff.
There’s a lot of arm 32 stuff that’s not working, so it makes it much more difficult
“oldoldoldstable”
“Double old plus” in newspeak.
I was there, 3000 years ago…
