[sf-lug] A short and simple survey

[Michael Paoli]

> From: "Bobbie Sellers" <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com>
> Subject: [sf-lug] A short and simple survey
> Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2018 14:11:13 -0700

> Hi LUGers,
>
>  	I have decided to do a little survey about who may still be
> running 32 bit machines on the LUG mailing list and who might still

Yes, still running "32-bit" machines (at least semi-regularly)

> be open to using other distributions than they have currently installed.

Other distributions? ... probably not - at least not for general
installation(s), anyway.

> You can reply to me off the list if you don't want to write back
> to the list.
>
> 	Respond please if you are using a 32 bit machine and are at all  
> interested in changing distributions

32-bit yes, interested in changing distributions - not really.

> 	Question one: Are you using a 32 bit machine?
Yes, sometimes - have 2 or 3 such systems, depending how one counts.


> 	Question two: How much RAM memory do you have in your computer?
one has 64 MiB 8-O, another 512 MiB (and the other that could be counted
is mostly a virtualization of the 2nd ... except when it's physical, which
sometimes it is).

> 	Question two: part 1. More than three Gigabytes of memory?
No.

> 	Are you interested in changing the operating system on your  
> computer whether you use 32 bit or 64 bit machines?
Changing the operating system is a different question than changing the
distribution.  I regularly change the operating system - most notably
security and bug fix updates.  I very much like Debian, so, as for
distributions, that's mostly what I run.  I occasionally run other
distribution(s), e.g. for testing on some virtual machines.
Work is a bit different - folks often pay me to run inferior operating
systems ... whatever.

> 	Thanks for any on-topic responses.
>
> 	Bobbie

FYI, also, what "32-bit" is supported, does often quite depend on CPU
and features.  Some that have been or are generally being successively
dropped by kernels/distributions, in approximate sequence ...
'386 dropped, but '486 supported ...
586/Pentium ... drop of '486, then
Pentium without PAE if I recall correctly, ... drop of '586 but still
'686 supported, and ... ultimately drop of 32-bit (anything that doesn't
at least support and run 64-bit).

Linux kernel long ago dropped support of 386 (i80386), though the "386"
naming persists in many distributions.  Many distributions well document
exactly what 32-bit they do/don't support (not only CPU minimums and
recommended, but also other minimums/recommended for distribution).  However
some distributions don't document this very well at all - e.g. just give a
"recommended" and can't be bothered to spell out what a minimum
usable/supportable configuration is.