Hi, On Sun, 2024-06-09 at 08:58 -0500, r...@neoquasar.org wrote: > What it is is functional, and paid for. And likely, already installed > and in use somewhere (like all of my 32-bit systems). > > It's not just a matter of "buy something better." That's easy.Â
Indeed, that is easier and cheaper. > What's not easy is that a) that adds another machine to the waste > stream, instead of continuing to get use from it, and b) someone has > to take the time to set up the new machine, test things, migrate > services, etc. to functionally replace the old one. That takes time > and effort, too, multiplied by the number of such systems out there. (a) is false as newer hardware can already be taken from electronic waste, so it does not add new waste. (Also electricity isn't free everywhere.) Maintaining support for ancient hardware costs too. And is more expensive per device as the number of systems is lower. > I've asked before and I'll ask again - and perhaps it's time for > someone to contact me off list to discuss details - how can I help > with support for i386? I have just enough software training to be > dangerous and may be able to help carry some of the actual load here, > instead of just asking for more free support. As I said before (https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2024/05/msg00302.html): If you look at https://release.debian.org/testing/arch_qualify.html there is at least several things that can be done: 1. Add CPU security mitigations to Linux kernel. 2. Address builds reaching address limit. There were ideas to use foreign-arch (amd64) compilers to do so. 3. Look at other arch-specific issues (porter); this can also include baseline violations and other issues for real i386 hardware. It is also possible to work on finding funding and asking someone else to do this. I've no idea how much that would cost, but let's say a few 10k USD. Which leads to the problem: most people who want this, seem to want to continue to use old hardware (T60, N270). However, continuing to support i386 has likely costs much higher than the replacement cost of said hardware... Which is probably why nobody really seems sufficiently motivated to actually invest resources. (Or do you?) (Sadly you previously refused incoming mail as I got a bounce.) Ansgar
