32-bit hardware support

[jdmcc]

Hi,

Can anybody tell me if there is a planned end of support for Debian on 32-bit hardware?

[Ardouos]

Nothing has been announced and I doubt it will be too for some time. But sadly, 32 bit support will die at some point.

[jdmcc]

Thanks for that. Sure, it's bound to go sometime, I just wondered if the Debian developers had a date in mind. I read somewhere on the Linux Mint forum that 32 bit would likely to be supported until 2023, then noticed that kernel 4.9 was also supported until then, and wondered if the two were connected. Anyway, I expect my Dell Optiplex 755 to have given up the ghost by then.

[Segfault]

Dell Optiplex 755 is a 64 bit computer.

[jdmcc]

You are absolutely right! I have just successfully installed Ubuntu 16.04 x64 (it was the onlyx64 media I had around) on the Dell and it all seems fine.
I picked up this box second-hand about 7 years ago with 32-bit Windows XP on board, and just went with the updates through Windows 7 to Windows 10, all the time assuming it was 32-bit hardware. Now, when I desperately want to drop Windows for Linux, I've been focusing on those that still support 32-bit. What an ass!

Thanks Segfault, time to look at some more distros.

[Segfault]

Don't be ashamed. IT guys at my work didn't know Core 2 Duo is a 64 bit CPU. They were so obsessed with 32 bit Windows.

[stevepusser]

I'm pretty sure that "lscpu" in the terminal will clear up any confusion about your CPU's capabilities.

[alan stone]

...Core 2 Duo is a 64 bit CPU...

I recently tried to run debian-live-9.6.0-amd64-xfce (1) and devuan_ascii_2.0.0_amd64_desktop-live (2) (*.iso hash checked) on a pc with:

Code: Select all

$ lscpu
Architecture:          i686
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                2
On-line CPU(s) list:   0,1
Thread(s) per core:    1
Core(s) per socket:    2
Socket(s):             1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 15
Model name:            Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          4300  @ 1.80GHz
Stepping:              2
CPU MHz:               1200.000
CPU max MHz:           1800.0000
CPU min MHz:           1200.0000
BogoMIPS:              3599.96
L1d cache:             32K
L1i cache:             32K
L2 cache:              2048K
Flags:                 fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf eagerfpu pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dtherm

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4300

and both hanged during launch:

(1) Kernel panic - not syncing: fatal exception in interupt
(2) Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed

32-bit versions ran smoothly though.

[Segfault]

I recently tried to run debian-live-9.6.0-amd64-xfce (1) and devuan_ascii_2.0.0_amd64_desktop-live ...

Debian stock kernel didn't like it. Does not mean it cannot run 64 bit. I ran 64 bit Gentoo on similar CPU for longest time.