On 11 May 2018 at 16:32, Fiedler Roman <roman.fied...@ait.ac.at> wrote: > > > Von: ubuntu-devel [mailto:ubuntu-devel-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com] Im > > > > Hello, > > > > Less and less non-amd64-compatible i386 hardware is available for > > consumers to buy today from anything but computer part recycling centers. > > The last of these machines were manufactured over a decade ago, and > > support from an increasing number of upstream projects has ended. ... > > > > ... > > > > We still have a relatively high number if i386 downloads but that doesn't > > mean users machines are not capable of amd64. For the flavors remaining > > today on i386 here are some i386 to amd64 ratios for 18.04: > > > > Lubuntu cdimage - 0.87 > > Lubuntu tracker - 0.64 > > ... > > This decision is not only about numbers, but somehow also about ethics. The > number of e.g. wheel-chair users or other disabled persons might not be > relevant for a society/economy in terms of numbers. But we honor the value of > freedom, also for those, who are not that well off than we are. Those would > not be able to participate in the same way, if we would not assist them by > providing support for that minority. > > So for the i386 discussion, there might be only two distinct groups of users > worth considering: > > a) Those, who cannot afford newer systems due to economical reasons. > > b) Those, who do not want to consume more resources due to ethical > considerations (that's the one for me): how many people could fed or how much > CO2 prevented, if all systems were some percent smaller on disk/RAM, > including IT-system production and operation related resource usage? Wasting > resources is also about freedom, as we deprive others who cannot afford > them/fight for them in the same way we can do. >
"Consume more resources" is a bit vague. Environmental impact is correlated with performance-per-watt measurements. That improves with the newer generation of lithography, better support of newer and more efficient instruction sets, ability to dynamically clock-down cpu cores etc. Thus newer generation CPUs are better performance wise on environment front. Depending on how much newer it is, it may even make economic sense to upgrade old hardware. Unless one operates complete off-grid, on self-harvested renewable energy, e.g. https://identi.ca/joeyh/note/mSMKXM3gSluoeC5mP1xIsw An example of this is comparing Intel Core Duo (65nm litography) as used in the last 32bit only Macbook from 2006 with the MacBook Retina (14nm) from 2015 about 10 years gap. The same number of cores, with comparable maximum frequency, Yet Thermal Design Power went down from 31W to 4.5 W (turbo 6W, low 3.5W, target average 4.5W). Dissipated heat is a proxy measurement for environmental impact. And the fact that later models are now fan-less, indicates better thermal dynamics, less power consumption, and overall nicer for the environment. I beat myself up a bit for still using a 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU with TDP of 77W, when I can get a new tower for less than 300 quid, which would come with a 14nm processor and TDP of just 35W. Electric saving alone for me would be at least 40 quid per annum. I have at least migrated my always-on servers to ARM64. HDDs consume more energy than SSDs; similarly newer (faster clock/dynamicly clocked, and operating at a lower voltage / amps) RAM consume less energy. If newer platforms were not more power efficient, we would not see public clouds / datacentres upgrading their platforms as aggressively as they do. The question comes down to, that some users simply cannot afford any upgrades at all. That makes me feel sad, and it is an indicator of poverty to me. I hope such users have access to and are better served by mobile phones / tablets with ARM processors for basic computing, information and communication needs. But I also fear that such users cannot afford to download security updates and choose to spend their MBs on downloading web pages and communicating instead. Doing a brief search in the UK there appear to be charities / sponsored schemes for affordable computing https://www.choose.co.uk/guide/free-computer-schemes-on-benefits.html and for around 100 quid one can get multi-core 64-bit based, 3GB of RAM desktops, laptops, netbooks. See for example http://www.getonlineathome.org/ . I do not see it as prohibitively unattainable, but I do guess this is still a luxury and not the case for many other countries around the world. -- Regards, Dimitri. -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
