Has the clock really started for 32 bit support?

[TWPonKubuntu]

This gives us roughly six years...

http://news.softpedia.com/news/canon...0-505761.shtml

I hope my 32 bit laptop lasts that long, but I'm not planning on buying a 64 bit machine soon.

[dequire]

There will be plenty of distros that will carry 32 bit architectures even if Canonical drops it. No worries there. I think eventually it becomes an issue with support. Plus, if you have a 32-bit machine chances are it's greater than 6-7 years old, which with the additional 6-year timeframe you outline, is not too unreasonable.

[Snowhog]

Well, contrary to that article, 64-bit and 32-bit .iso downloads are available for 16.10 on Ubuntu's official download site: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

[wizard10000]

There's a bit of FUD there.

Linus and the kernel team decided to drop support for i386 architecture, but i686 (which is also 32-bit) will still be supported by Debian. So - your 486 won't' work but the Pentium II you bought in 1997 will work just fine

[TWPonKubuntu]

Well, contrary to that article, 64-bit and 32-bit .iso downloads are available for 16.10 on Ubuntu's official download site: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

Reading between the lines, I think that article was written some time ago and only kind of "updated" for publication yesterday.

But I do hear the bells tolling...

@dequire
My "problem" is that I like Kubuntu... While other distros may continue to be available, they lack the "cache" of Kubuntu...

Sigh... Why can't it all just stay the same? Did I really just say that? Must be old age...

[Snowhog]

Okay-y-y, but the 32-bit .iso's are identified as i386, not i686.

[TWPonKubuntu]

I can live without i386 "processor" support, if I still have i686 support. I have more than one "older" system (server for example) that I'd hoped to keep running. Looks like it may be possible. Crossing my fingers.

[wizard10000]

Okay-y-y, but the 32-bit .iso's are identified as i386, not i686.

That may have to change, I guess

The kernel team is dropping support for i386 so whatever they decide to name it gonna have to change across distributions.

[wizard10000]

I can live without i386 "processor" support, if I still have i686 support. I have more than one "older" system (server for example) that I'd hoped to keep running. Looks like it may be possible. Crossing my fingers.

Yeah, it's possible. The kernel team is dropping i386 processor support; Debian is also dropping support for i486 and i586 - I found this handy architecture thingie on linuxquestions.org and it might help:

8086 = 8-bit
80186 = 8-bit
80286 = 16-bit
80386 = 32-bit <-- Linux is dropping support for this.
80486 = 32-bit <-- Debian is dropping support for this
80586 = 32-bit = Pentium, Pentium MMX, K5, K6, K6-II, K6-III <--and this.
80686 = 32-bit = Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Athlon, Athlon XP, Opteron*, Athlon FX-51*, Athlon FX-53*, Athlon 64*
80786 = 32-bit = Pentium 4

* = 32-bit/64-bit

edit: Debian has already made the switch

https://lists.debian.org/debian-deve.../msg00001.html

Last year it was decided to increase the minimum CPU features for the
i386 architecture to 686-class in the stretch release cycle. This
means dropping support for 586-class and hybrid 586/686
processors[1].(Support for 486-class processors was dropped, somewhat
accidentally, in squeeze.)

This was implemented in the Linux kernel packages starting with Linux
4.3, which was uploaded to unstable in December last year.

In case you missed that change, gcc for i386 has recently been changed
to target 686-class processors and is generating code that will crash
on other processors. Any such systems still running testing or
unstable will need to be switched to run stable (jessie).

The older processors will continue to be supported in jessie until at
least 2018, and until 2020 if i386 is included in jessie LTS.

[1] The following processors, supported in jessie, are now unspported:

* AMD K5, K6, K6-2 (aka K6 3D), K6-3
* DM&P/SiS Vortex86, Vortex86SX
* Cyrix III, MediaGX, MediaGXm
* IDT Winchip C6, Winchip 2
* Intel Pentium, Pentium with MMX
* Rise mP6
* VIA C3 'Samuel 2', C3 'Ezra'

Ben.

--
Ben Hutchings
Editing code like this is akin to sticking plasters on the bleeding stump
of a severed limb. - me, 29 June 1999