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Fedora Linux Moves Ahead With Effectively Demoting 32-bit x86 Support

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  • Fedora Linux Moves Ahead With Effectively Demoting 32-bit x86 Support

    Phoronix: Fedora Linux Moves Ahead With Effectively Demoting 32-bit x86 Support

    Fedora Linux is moving ahead with plans to place emphasis on i686 / 32-bit x86 support, but they stopped short of a proposal to outright eliminate 32-bit Fedora 24 ISOs for all spins...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    "Fedora stops just on the border of going full retard"

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    • #3
      Now if only more modern Linux distributions and ISVs would let i686 die with fire...
      32-bit hardware will be around for a very long time, and it still has many uses.

      I think it's fine that main desktop operating systems stop supporting it in order to focus on modern hardware, but it would be very sad if 32-bit machines lose the ability to run modern free software. So, it's right to celebrate this decision, but this "die with fire" attitude is too much. I very much hope 32-bit support does not die in the free operating system world.

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      • #4
        I could see people who might want to run Fedora in netbooks that don't have a 64-bit CPU, but are there any netbooks left in the market today that only have a 32-bit CPU? Shouldn't 4GB of RAM be the standard for netbooks? RAM is cheap these days.

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        • #5
          Let the i686 Images die, please. Most Installations are AMD64. 32bit Libs only for compatibility ...

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          • #6
            Good. Given that RHEL 7 doesn't support i686 any more, there shouldn't be any problems for Fedora to do the same thing. Though making i686 about as important as ARM would probably be a good idea.

            And yes, i686 shouldn't be abandoned altogether; but these days i686 hardware should be running Gentoo anyway.

            Originally posted by GraysonPeddie View Post
            I could see people who might want to run Fedora in netbooks that don't have a 64-bit CPU, but are there any netbooks left in the market today that only have a 32-bit CPU? Shouldn't 4GB of RAM be the standard for netbooks? RAM is cheap these days.
            Define "left in the market". They haven't been produced since Bay Trail. The ones before that still exist, though (like my Oak Trail tablet).

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            • #7
              The last CPUs without 64bit support were early Atoms and Pentium Ms (and Core Solo/Core Duo), which are really old. Those were discontinued around 2007. On the AMD side the Athlon XP has was replaced by Athlon 64 around 2003-2004.

              If you are running a 32bit only machine then it's ancient.

              I even have a couple Shuttle XPCs from around 2004 laying around and those are already 64 bit capable!

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              • #8
                Originally posted by emblemparade View Post
                I think it's fine that main desktop operating systems stop supporting it in order to focus on modern hardware,
                Modern hardware?
                64bit is not USB 3.0. The 32bit hardware is more old than prehistoric and its compatible software must be abandoned asap.

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                • #9
                  This month I migrated from (Arch Linux) x86_64 to i686 (I have been using x86_64 for 6 years).
                  Now I am able to have launched
                  * mpd, i3wm, dhcpcd, gnome-terminal, pulseaudio
                  * Sublime Text 3
                  * Palemoon (uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, 5 tabs)
                  * Chromium (2 tabs with 2 inspectors)
                  * Photoshop CS2 (with 1 opened 20MB .psd)
                  at the same time without using swap! I am very happy now (I have 2GB DDR2 and no money). I have around 30-40% more free RAM. I didn't notice worse performance (I measured by my eyes), though I haven't tried to play games.
                  Therefore, users of very small computers (like Google Glass) will be unhappy with Fedora.

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                  • #10
                    Most recent Atom without 64-bit support is the Cloverview (e.g. Z2560) I think, which is used in some 2014 handheld devices.
                    Also many perfectly working Atom N270 netbooks still exist which after XP end-of-support found a new lease of life in Linux.

                    One additional problem is the 32-bit UEFI in some 64-bit Atom platforms. Distros are only starting now to cope with that.

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