Sorry, misspoke, there has been no *decision* made yet On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:18 PM, Awjin Ahn <awjin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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/mailm >> an/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
