laughs in Trixie
this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
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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've got an Acer Aspire One that is slow but i Iove the form factor. It is really good for email and document tasks, just really light and comfortable and the battery lasts ages. Gonna be sad when 32bit ends
slackware also has 32bit btw :)
I can wholeheartedly recommend NetBSD if you want rock solid and eternally dependable backward compatibility forever.
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
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?
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
There is the x32 ABI that tried to have that 64bit cake and eat it too, but it didn't catch on, probably for good reasons. Gentoo still allows you to run it on modern hardware in case you want to try it out.
I was there, 3000 years ago...
It really is amazing how far back Linux reaches. Aren't there a few distros with current support that will run on a 486?
o7
It really is amazing how far back Linux reaches.
That was the case
I checked, and now the oldest computers that can run a modern Linux kernel are...33 years old! Still amazing.
iirc the Linux kernel dropped support for pre-Pentium x86 in the last few years, so any distro with 486 support now would be using an unmaintained kernel.
I think if you want a maintained operating system for your 486 today, NetBSD is probably the thing to run.
https://ostechnix.com/linux-kernel-ends-486-support/
I am surprised to learn it was May of last year, with the 6.15 kernel being the first to drop 486 support and the 386 family dropping out back in 2012.
After a touch more research to figure out what the oldest currently-supported computers would be: I also hadn't realized the first Pentium debuted in 1993. Pentium and compatibles are still operable, so there are maintained distros out there like Tiny Core Linux that will work on computers made 33 years ago. Just amazing.