Concerned about future 32 bit server support

[Robert Heller]

At Tue, 8 Aug 2017 15:08:35 -0700 "Ubuntu user technical support,  not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:

> 
> On Tue,  8 Aug 2017 17:57:57 -0400 (EDT)
> Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> 
> > At Tue, 8 Aug 2017 13:18:20 -0700 "Ubuntu user technical support,
> > not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > On Tue,  8 Aug 2017 16:06:36 -0400 (EDT)
> > > Robert Heller <heller at deepsoft.com> wrote:
> > >   
> > > > At Tue, 8 Aug 2017 18:48:33 +0100 "Ubuntu user technical support,
> > > > not for general discussions" <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> > > > wrote: 
> > > > > 
> > > > > On Tue, 08 Aug 2017 17:07:07 +0100
> > > > > David Fletcher wrote:
> > > > >     
> > > > > > Hi all,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > There was a fairly long discussion over on the Kubuntu list,
> > > > > > about dropping 32 bit support.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > My concern is that I have a little home built machine with a
> > > > > > 32 bit Atom processor that has been running for several years
> > > > > > and perfectly serves my needs for a low power headless
> > > > > > server. Will 32 bit server support continue into the
> > > > > > foreseeable future?    
> > > > > 
> > > > > My understanding is that this possibility is being examined
> > > > > because there are not very many people who are able/willing to
> > > > > test the 32 bit software. Clearly the testing process is
> > > > > crucial. So I guess the solution is: if you want it, become a
> > > > > tester.    
> > > > 
> > > > Just as another datapoint: RedHat has dropped 32-bit support
> > > > starting with RHel 7. But the CentOS team is building 32-bit
> > > > kernels and has a distro for i686 AND arm based on RHel 7, I
> > > > believe mostly done by people who have a specific need for such
> > > > systems. I expect that eventually all of the major distros will
> > > > stop distributing *binaries* for 32-bit x86 eventually, just as
> > > > they have stopped distributing 68K, Alpha, ppc/ppc-64, etc. I
> > > > believe non-PAE 32-bit kernels are no longer available stock, as
> > > > well is <i686 kernels -- is anyone still running 80386's? '486s
> > > > or '586s? Even though I believe current kernels still have
> > > > support for these processors, if one were willing to [cross?]
> > > > build them. 
> > > > >     
> > > >   
> > > 
> > > well, I ran across a dual cpu 486 system last year running controls
> > > for a commercial greenhouse setup (42 greenhouses) Tyan
> > > motherboard. Still working, I just vacuumed it out and turned it
> > > back on. MS-DOS  
> > 
> > Generally pure silicon will last almost forever. Hard drives get old
> > and die, PS get old and die, fans get old and die, but a uProcessor
> > is forever... OTOH, it does get harder and harder to get old-style
> > interface replacement hard drives (can you still get IDE [PATA] hard
> > drives? 8-bit wide SCSI? AT Power supplies? ISA interface boards?).
> > At some point it might make sense to replace the old gear.
> > 
> > I wonder: would a $40 Raspberry Pi Model 3B run those 42 greenhouses
> > as well (better?) than the dual cpu 486 system? :-)
> 
> not sure, will it run DOS?

Probably not, but why run DOS? I presume that the control system is likely in
a language like C or Pascal and can probably be recompiled. My point is that
a Raspberry Pi Model 3B has much more compute resources (cpu speed,
memory, etc.) than a pair of '486s -- it is a quad core 64-bit arm processor
with a 1Gig of RAM. And only costs about $40. What does the dual 486 box have
for memory? What does it use for a hard drive? What happens when that hard
drive dies?

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