On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 9:48 PM, Eitan Adler <li...@eitanadler.com> wrote:
> Hi, > > I am writing this email to discuss the i386 architecture in FreeBSD. > > Computers are getting faster, but also more memory intensive. I > can not find a laptop with less than 4 or 8 GB of RAM. Modern > browsers, such as Firefox, require a 64bit architecture and 8GB of > RAM. A 32 bit platform is not enough now a days on systems with > more than 4 GB of RAM. A 32 bit core now is like 640K of RAM in > the 1990s. Even in the embedded world ARM is going 64 bit with > ARMv8. > > Secondly, the i386 port is unmaintained. Very few developers run > it, so it doesn't get the testing it deserves. Almost every user > post or bug report I see from a x86 compatible processor is running > amd64. When was the last time you booted i386 outside a virtual > machine? Often times the build works for amd64 but fails for i386. > > Finally, others are dropping support for i386. Windows Server 2008 > is 64 bit only, OSX Mountain Lion (10.8) is 64-bit only. Users > and downstream vendors no longer care about preserving ancient > hardware. > > I hope this email is enough to convince you that on this date we > should drop support for the i386 architecture for 10.0 to tier 2 > and replace it with the ARM architecture as Tier 1. > > -- > Eitan Adler > This idea is really very good . The FreeBSD Project man power , for me , is wasted to maintain a branch that it is NOT necessary to make it a first class branch . 1 Giga Bytes , and even 2 Giga Bytes memory chips are disappearing from the computer shops slowly . At present , there is NO any processor which is ONLY 32-bits . Not only the Windows Server , if I am not remembering incorrectly , new regular Windows ( desk top , etc. ) versions will drop 32 bits branches : They only supply 64 bits versions . By concentrating on 64 bits ( amd64 ) branch and work toward distributed processing and high performance computing for super or clustered computers or graphics chips ( cards ) is much more useful than working on 32 bits version . Thank you very much . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk _______________________________________________ freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-hackers-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
