You are not logged in.

#26 2017-03-29 20:43:59

Texbrew
Member
From: The Lone Star State
Registered: 2016-02-09
Posts: 580

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

@olegabrielz, in an oddly round-about way, it was CrunchBang that eventually led me to Arch. Although it was never my daily driver, I had CB in a couple of VM's and a USB thumb drive or two. Similar to 32 bit   Arch being dropped by the dev team, as you know the CB developer dropped it after maintaining it for several years.

The main things I liked about CrunchBang were the OpenBox desktop - completely new to me at the time - the keyboard shortcuts, and the conky display.

I have Arch + OpenBox running on 3 machines on bare metal, and Arch + Xfce4 running on a couple of VM's. I have loved OpenBox from day one. I tinkered with conky a bit, but never got around to making it as fully functional as the one in CrunchBang.

To be clear, I'm not really frustrated over 32 bit Arch. I understand the why. However, I will be following the archlinux32 project, for what it's worth for me to follow it. I don't know how I would implement the tools, as I have never really done any compiling on my own.

Lastly, I'm very happy with Arch 64 bit. I can't imagine doing without it.

Offline

#27 2017-03-29 22:10:46

olegabrielz
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2015-12-23
Posts: 255

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Openbox is perfect for me. I use it on all my computers. But now we have to get this thread back on track.

I don't have much experience with many different distros. So my suggestion will be, as already mentioned a couple of times in this thread, to use Debian netinstall. It seems that the LTS branch will keep this old architecture alive for many years to come.

I also believe Gentoo is a good choice. A bit more challenging than debian to set up and maintain. And it is, as Arch, a rolling release (but also source based).

The problem will only get worse as the wheel of time is turning slow and steady. Fewer and fewer developers will use time and energy on outdated hardware. Some enthusiasts will work their butts of to maintain and keep some old systems up and running. But sadly, for many people, they won't last forever.

Edit: Typo

Last edited by olegabrielz (2017-04-19 15:53:41)


Be aware of my Newbie Powers

Offline

#28 2017-03-30 00:58:44

Texbrew
Member
From: The Lone Star State
Registered: 2016-02-09
Posts: 580

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Ah, yes, the Debian net install. I will be giving it a run in a VM when I'm all caught up with my system upgrades.

Offline

#29 2017-03-31 13:13:41

Alad
Wiki Admin/IRC Op
From: Bagelstan
Registered: 2014-05-04
Posts: 2,407
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Perhaps out-of-scope for this thread, but I'm curious on how or if Archlinux32 will be supported in these forums. In the "Other Architectures" subforum? Or is it too soon to say?


Mods are just community members who have the occasionally necessary option to move threads around and edit posts. -- Trilby

Offline

#30 2017-03-31 14:47:06

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

I'd say it is too soon to say.  In part, it is a matter of the extent of independence of the new project.


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

Offline

#31 2017-04-19 09:12:44

AaronBP
Member
Registered: 2012-08-06
Posts: 149
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

brebs wrote:
LuX wrote:

except that I don't like the idea of huge updates every two years

How long are you expecting to continue to use i686 for? Presumably, you have a plan for getting off widely-obsoleted tech?


People are still running BBSes on their C64s. Hardware ain't obsolete until it stops working. wink

Offline

#32 2017-04-19 10:37:32

Steef435
Member
Registered: 2013-08-29
Posts: 577
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

I've heard good things about OpenSuse Tumbleweed, but I've never used it so YMMV.

Offline

#33 2017-04-23 19:16:56

chaonaut
Member
From: Kyiv, Ukraine
Registered: 2014-02-05
Posts: 382

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Alpine.
but be warned: it is musl-based, not glibc-based.


— love is the law, love under wheel, — said aleister crowley and typed in his terminal:
usermod -a -G wheel love

Offline

#34 2017-04-23 19:22:25

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,441
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

chaonaut wrote:

but be warned: it is musl-based...

Is there anything a user would need to be warned about for this?  I thought the only differences were some quirks of glibc-specific APIs.


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#35 2017-04-23 19:42:22

progandy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-17
Posts: 5,184

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Trilby wrote:
chaonaut wrote:

but be warned: it is musl-based...

Is there anything a user would need to be warned about for this?  I thought the only differences were some quirks of glibc-specific APIs.

i think you have to take care with proprietary precompiled software that relies on glibc.


| alias CUTF='LANG=en_XX.UTF-8@POSIX ' |

Offline

#36 2017-04-23 19:48:21

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,441
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Ah, makes sense, thanks.  I'd just not use any of that tongue


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Offline

#37 2017-04-25 12:53:25

chickenPie4tea
Member
Registered: 2012-08-21
Posts: 309

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

I was sad to hear about the i686 support ending and even posted here about it but it was quickly put in the rubbish bin, lol
Anyway I understand it and it's probably wise. I considered which os I would switch too but then decided it really was time to get a 64bit machine because it's not just the os, software is coming out that does not support 32bit machines, new and realy good video editors that I want to try out etc, so I got myself a cheap 2nd hand laptop (lenovo t400).


You can like linux without becoming a fanatic!

Offline

#38 2017-04-26 00:04:07

Texbrew
Member
From: The Lone Star State
Registered: 2016-02-09
Posts: 580

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

I think you're going to like the Lenovo. I have two T420's I bought cheap on e***y about a year and a half ago.  Batteries on both machines ran about 4 hours then, and still out-perform any other laptop I have owned. One runs Arch, the other runs Manjaro. I couldn't be more pleased.

The devs decision to drop i686 support is not a deal breaker for me, but my old 32 bit PC may miss it. I'm trying to stay tuned in to the news where i686 support is concerned...

Cheers!

Offline

#39 2018-01-06 22:32:39

exidux
Member
From: Your screen.
Registered: 2014-09-19
Posts: 59

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

LuX wrote:

Hello!

I'm using Arch Linux for years on all my laptops, which are relatively old, and I'm quite happy with it. Unfortunately it seems that the support for i686 architectures is going to disappear. So I guess I'll have to move to other distros, sadly enough.

Upon your opinion, what is now the best alternative to Arch whith long-term support for i686 architecture?

Maybe I shouldn't ask this on that forum, but I have seen old posts in this topic with similar questions (but different needs). My main needs are, in order of decreasing importance :

1) fast boot (25-35 seconds with Arch is OK, much more with others is not) ;
2) full-featured and easy-to-use package management (pacman is just perfect for me) ;
3) well documented wiki ;
4) KISS philosophy ;
5) large community (hence durability).

I rarely used AUR, and do not necessarily need frequent updates. On the other hand I like the "rolling distro" system, but this is not mandatory as it restricts the choice quite a lot. What I have seen until now:

- Frugalware is dropping of i686 support too.
- Slackware, Crux, Gentoo are too complicated for me.
- Ubuntu is not KISS at all, and boots up far too slowly.
- Debian might fit the goal, except that I don't like the idea of huge updates every two years. Appart of this I can't get a clear opinion on it: isn't it too complicated?

Thank you for sharing your opinions.

LuX

PS : If possible, I'd like to be able to start with a minimal system and extend it (easily) just to fit my needs and nothing more.

At the moment Void Linux should still do all of that. But it is a bit different in some ways:

- No system D, it uses Runit. It boots very fast.
- LibreSSL instead of OpenSSL
- very easy to install the official nvidia drivers on
- rolling release
- has versions with Musl, but it also has versions with the 'standard' libc.

The package manager works a lot like Pacman:

xbps-install -Syu

Last edited by exidux (2018-01-06 22:34:22)

Offline

#40 2018-01-07 00:21:31

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: Archlinux alternatives with long-term i686 support

Void has already been recommended and this thread doesn't need resurrection: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … bumping.22


Closing


Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB