32 bit x86 Gentoo - still use it?

[eccerr0r]

Just a word of warning, I was trying to use a QEMU KVM to be a cross compiler for a K6/233 as well. I learned too late that KVM will happily execute CMOV instructions even if you specify a 486 emulation which resulted in an unworkable machine when transferring to a real machine.

Not that there wasn't any better alternative, but it was unexpected nevertheless. Turned out to be a Gentoo issue anyway.

And yes my 32-bit only Atom is up for an emerge --update @world with the 17 profile update. ugh.
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[gordonb3]

Interesting.

Always used vmware myself as I have a company supplied license for it. Only time ever that I used QEMU was to emulate an ARM machine and that turned out to run even slower than on the actual box. Not a big success and it in fact did not allow me to do what I actually intended, which was to build and test a new uboot. So now I use an i686 virtual machine to build for armv5te. Not ideal and I have a growing list of packages that appear to compile correctly but in reality don't, but it still gets most of the work done.

[mdtiger]

There still thousands of machines in use or for historical documentation which are 32 bit only.

So I'm quite sad to read this thread. "My computers are all 64 bit, hey we are in the 21st century" It doesn't matter how many percent think that way.

The point is, how do I keep my 32 bit equipment running. Gentoo is one very few source-based distributions. So there is a responsibility to keep 32 bit code alive.

And it is quite easy because the topic is closed. Every machine is produced, most of them are used, old and every detail and every fault is known. In most cases there is a reason, why someone wants to use it. Maybe a special extension-card or interface.

So it would be possible to make a list of machines, which need support.

My desktop is stuck with a VIA Apollo MVP4 (Blade3D) from Trident. As graphics accelerator it is faster than no graphics. For me it was always fast enough. But if I compare distros which mention CyberBlade they only offer a 64 bit version. But there never ever was a 64 bit computer with a Blade3D.

On my core2 I can choose between 64 bit or 32 bit. But hardware which never was capable for 64 bit needs a 32 bit OS. As windows no option anymore there has to be a Linux-community for 32 bit. Not only here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repair_caf%C3%A9

I hope some people will gather to save the last running 32 bit processor.
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mdtiger

[eccerr0r]

I deliberately closed the poll after about a month because as time goes on, people change their minds over time as they get new hardware -- it was meant to be a snapshot in time. Ideally the poll is cleared and refreshed once in a while to know exactly the state of how many people run older machines, but yeah I suspect the number of people selecting "all 64 bit, get with the program" goes up and up

For the record, it's mid 2018 and I still have 32-bit machines chugging along too. However 32-bit support seems to be languishing, not even sure if people are maintaining it, many developers are merely testing on virtual machines which as pointed above, is not completely sufficient. The spectre/meltdown workarounds are not fully implemented on 32-bit machines either.
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Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
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[ct85711]

Oh, I also have 1 32-bit machine running still too, mostly because I don't see a reason to reinstall that machine when the importance of that machine is low enough that I don't care about security. Considering that machine is mostly use to download embroidery designs and copy to a 3.5" floppy, I don't even bother updating that machine anymore until I have to. It doesn't help that machine also runs an old proprietary software, that I don't even know if it would run on 64-bit; and that software is one area that never had any alternatives that you could use in linux.

[eccerr0r]

But that machine isn't running Gentoo and thus out of the scope of the discussion?
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?