Hey Jeremy, Could you speak a little more to how the decision was made to drop 32-bit?
Personally, I'm in favor of dropping, but think it will add to the discussion. Thanks, Awjin On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:02 PM, Aryan Ameri <pub...@aryanameri.com> wrote: > On 28/3/17 11:08, John Gilmore wrote: > > The idea of dropping i386 support seems like a step backwards to me. > > > If an architecture needs to be dropped due to resource constraints, > > the obvious one to drop is amd64. > > No. > > > Every computer capable of running > > amd64 is also capable of running i386. There are essentially no > > applications that inherently require a 64-bit address space > > First of all, as the announcement made clear, ASLR hugely benefits from > 64-bit address space. > > Secondly, the extra registers in AMD64 increase binary performance. > > Third, a lot of software benefits hugely from AVX and AVX2, from Blender > to handbrake to GIMP. But compiling software to i386, users would forgo > on 15 years worth of advancements and extensions to x86. > > Fourth: One of the biggest advancements in computer security in the last > 15 years has been the introduction of NX bit, which is not available in > 32-bit x86. > > Finally, a lot of us have more than 4GiB of RAM, and PAE is an ugly hack > that incurs extra performance penalty. > > > probably hundreds of > > millions, of computers can run i386 without trouble, but cannot run > > amd64. (Yes, I do regularly use multiple computers, including an > > Atom-based netbook and a Pentium III server, that can't run amd64.) > > You use an Atom-based netbook and a Pentium III server with Ubuntu Gnome?! > > You run Gnome 3.2x on a Pentium III?! > > I'd like to see that in action. > > PS: You should buy a new atom CPU and replace that Pentium III with. It > costs $60 and pays for itself in your reduced electricity usage in less > than a year. > > > > Why > > is Ubuntu-GNOME throwing away this advantage that it has long held > > over Windows? > > > Engineering for the lowest common denominator has many extra costs. > > > For those who care about secure computing, the vendors who ship amd64 > > architecture chips have polluted them with embedded processors that > > subvert the security of the system. > > > Anyone who truly cares > > about having full control over their computing environment is stuck > > with buying older CPUs and motherboards. > > There are plenty of open architectures around where you have complete > control over the ISA and can inspect the the CPU. OpenPOWER and RISC-V > are two examples that come to my mind. I suggest you get yourself a > POWER 8 system from IBM, it probably still uses less power than your > Pentium III. > > > > > The main reason to prefer amd64 over i386, despite the cost in > > compatability, seems to be simple trendiness. Processor chic. > > Oh wait. You pretend to care about security but have not heard of ASLR > or NX bit. Or maybe ASLR is also just "chic"? > > > > > Finally, there is the bold but false statement in the wiki page, "If > > you are running 64-bit capable hardware there are absolutely no valid > > reasons to be running a 32-bit operating system." > > > > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGNOME/32bit_support > > > > What I think the author meant is that THEY could not conceive of a > > reason to run a 32-bit operating system. Or perhaps that every end > > user who has a reason to run a 32-bit operating system is not "valid" > > in their choice. > > If you have a CPU supporting AMD64, there is no valid reason for running > 32-bit x86 OS on it. Period. > > > This seems more like hubris than wisdom to me. > > Or maybe it just shines a light on your ignorance. > > > Different users have different situations and different needs. > > Of course. And there will always be Slackware for you. Unless Patrick > Volkerding gets hit by a bus. > > -- > Aryan Ameri > > > -- > Ubuntu-GNOME mailing list > Ubuntu-GNOME@lists.ubuntu.com > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/ > mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-gnome > -- Ubuntu-GNOME mailing list Ubuntu-GNOME@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-gnome
