From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 1865 invoked from network); 9 Feb 2021 06:56:21 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 9 Feb 2021 06:56:21 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id A74849C8FA; Tue, 9 Feb 2021 16:56:18 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 865969BA43; Tue, 9 Feb 2021 16:55:56 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 32E969BA43; Tue, 9 Feb 2021 16:55:55 +1000 (AEST) Received: from hop.toad.com (75-101-100-43.dsl.static.fusionbroadband.com [75.101.100.43]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 678149BA42 for ; Tue, 9 Feb 2021 16:55:53 +1000 (AEST) Received: from hop.toad.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by hop.toad.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id 1196tomj005373; Mon, 8 Feb 2021 22:55:50 -0800 To: Henry Bent In-reply-to: References: Comments: In-reply-to Henry Bent message dated "Mon, 08 Feb 2021 13:42:00 -0500." Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2021 22:55:50 -0800 Message-ID: <5372.1612853750@hop.toad.com> From: John Gilmore Subject: Re: [TUHS] Macs and future unix derivatives X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: TUHS main list Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Henry Bent wrote: > Apple loves to move quickly and abandon > compatibility, and in that respect it's an interesting counterpoint to > Linux or a *BSD where you can have decades old binaries that still run. That was true decades ago, but no longer. In the intervening time, all the major Linux distributions have stopped releasing OS's that support 32-bit machines. Even those that support 32-bit CPUs have often desupported the earlier CPUs (like, what was wrong with the 80386?). Essentially NO applications require 64-bit address spaces, so arguably if they wanted to lessen their workload, they should have desupported the 64-bit architectures (or made kernels and OS's that would run on both from a single release). But that wouldn't give them the gee-whiz-look-at-all-the-new-features feeling. I ran 32-bit OS releases on all my 64-bit x86 hardware for years. They ran faster and smaller than the amd64 versions, and also ran old binaries for more than a decade. But their vendors and support teams decided that doing the release-engineering to keep them running was more work than pulling the plug. Even Fedora has desupported the One Laptop Per Child hardware now -- no new releases for millions of kids! And desupported all the other cheap Intel mobile CPUs, let alone your typical desktop 80386, 80486, or Pentium. Have you tried running Linux on a machine without a GPU these days? It's truly sad that to gain stupid animated window tricks, they broke compatability with millions of existing systems. Here's one overview of the niche distros that still have x86 support: https://fossbytes.com/best-lightweight-linux-distros/ Even those are dropping like flies, e.g. Ubuntu MATE now says "For older hardware based on i386. Supported until April 2021", i.e. only til next month! The PuppyLinux.com web site is now a 404. Etc. (I'm not up on what the BSD releases are doing.) John