Hi All,
As the impending death of 32-bit support for openSUSE is coming sometime between November 2016 (EoL of Evergreen 13.1) and early 2017 (Expected End of Life of openSUSE 13.2) I wanted to address some concerns surrounding the move to 64-bit
I guess the easiest way of tackling this is by addressing the 'Myths' directly
64-bit hardware is not expensive
Brand New, fully featured, Intel 64-bit hardware like the Intel Compute Stick can be purchased for $85 (US Dollars)
It comes with 1GB RAM, 8GB Storage, can plug into any screen with a HDMI port and is powered by USB
The 'Windows' Model only costs $10 more and provides double the RAM and 4x the storage
There are many Intel NUC desktop boxes which start at prices around $124 and stay under $200 until you start getting to some of the fancier models. (though you may need to add a hard drive or RAM as most NUCs are sold 'barebones')
These are perfect sufficient machines for replacing whatever 32-bit use cases you may have. In the case of the Intel NUC, Intel even go as far as saying that openSUSE is officially supported! :)
These machines are still going to be many times faster than whatever old 32-bit hardware is still lurking out there. While I understand ANY money might be 'too much' for some, I do think that it's important to make clear that 64-bit hardware is really not that expensive.
64-bit hardware, even (or especially) the cheap examples I suggest above, benefit from years of laptop and data centre hardware development. They're smaller, lighter, quieter (important if you're running this at home) and more power efficient.
I've even seen some maths that suggest that in some cases buying a NUC or a Compute Stick might even pay for itself compared to a 32-bit machine on the power consumption factor alone.
So, 64-bit is faster It's better for your power bill and the environment It's quieter in your house or data centre It's not terribly expensive to buy It's also a heck of a lot cheaper for everyone in the openSUSE community to support as it's far more common than 32-bit hardware these days and therefore a lot more of us are likely to have the hardware you need to reproduce issues
In short, if you're clinging on to your 32-bit machines for dear life and are thinking the world will end with the End of Life of Evergreen or openSUSE 13.2, please consider a hardware refresh.. There's lots of benefits for the little investment it may cost you..
Regards,
Richard
Richard Brown composed on 2015-12-12 19:26 (UTC+0100):
These machines are still going to be many times faster than whatever
Speed is a non-issue for picture viewing, email, and online shopping and billpay. What was fast enough more than a decade ago is likely fast enough today.
old 32-bit hardware is still lurking out there. While I understand ANY money might be 'too much' for some, I do think that it's important to make clear that 64-bit hardware is really not that expensive.
64-bit hardware, even (or especially) the cheap examples I suggest above, benefit from years of laptop and data centre hardware development. They're smaller, lighter, quieter (important if you're running this at home) and more power efficient.
Cheap and new both come at a price, among which is commonly absence of longevity. Look at cell phones. Ignoring how quickly their software capability becomes obsolete, the hardware typically doesn't last very long. A cheap PC, regardless of bits, doesn't have the track record a machine still going strong after 10 or 15 years has.
Cheap PCs typically lack PS/2 ports. I still use keyboards made before the first USB keyboards were made, long before Win keys first appeared, and don't support USB adapters. I've been unable to find newer with a layout facilitating one hand touch typing using Fn keys (all 12 at left end, which Fn, Ctrl, Alt & Shift co-located facilitate, and all newer keyboards make impossible).
Newer doesn't automatically mean better where better counts most.
Le 12/12/2015 19:26, Richard Brown a écrit :
I guess the easiest way of tackling this is by addressing the 'Myths' directly
you kow, the "solution" used by many people I know is to never update (most of them don't only because they don't know even what it is :-()
of course, I wont do this on a server (but I may upgrade at Evergreen eol), cheap computers are not online servers.
by the way, 32 bits hardware is dying slowly, and probably keeping Evergreen two years more would be more than enough
small very cheap "computer" are almost unusable. Better use a PI :-)), I don't understand why there is still some new 32 bits...
jdd
On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 11:45 AM, jdd jdd@dodin.org wrote:
Le 12/12/2015 19:26, Richard Brown a écrit :
I guess the easiest way of tackling this is by addressing the 'Myths' directly
you kow, the "solution" used by many people I know is to never update (most of them don't only because they don't know even what it is :-()
of course, I wont do this on a server (but I may upgrade at Evergreen eol), cheap computers are not online servers.
by the way, 32 bits hardware is dying slowly, and probably keeping Evergreen two years more would be more than enough
small very cheap "computer" are almost unusable. Better use a PI :-)), I don't understand why there is still some new 32 bits...
jdd
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Here in the used USA 64 bit systems can be had for $100.00 and sometimes less used with free shipping sometimes. Check the Newegg marketplace. The system I am entering this from was $130.00 used via that route. Yes I did add some memory and a Nvidia graphics adapter but it was not necessary. Running Tumbleweed. Just works.
Steven
On Sat 12 Dec 2015 11:58:49 AM CST, Steven Hess wrote:
On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 11:45 AM, jdd jdd@dodin.org wrote:
Le 12/12/2015 19:26, Richard Brown a écrit :
I guess the easiest way of tackling this is by addressing the 'Myths' directly
you kow, the "solution" used by many people I know is to never update (most of them don't only because they don't know even what it is :-()
of course, I wont do this on a server (but I may upgrade at Evergreen eol), cheap computers are not online servers.
by the way, 32 bits hardware is dying slowly, and probably keeping Evergreen two years more would be more than enough
small very cheap "computer" are almost unusable. Better use a PI :-)), I don't understand why there is still some new 32 bits...
jdd
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org
Here in the used USA 64 bit systems can be had for $100.00 and sometimes less used with free shipping sometimes. Check the Newegg marketplace. The system I am entering this from was $130.00 used via that route. Yes I did add some memory and a Nvidia graphics adapter but it was not necessary. Running Tumbleweed. Just works.
Steven
Hi Similar, I get mine from the local pawn shop.... it's surprising the bargains that can be had from departing University students....
Hasn't chrome announced it's dropping 32bit support?
I gave away all my 32bit stuff although I still have a VIA Artigo I may keep, just like my sparc systems...
W dniu 12.12.2015 o 22:00, Malcolm pisze:
I gave away all my 32bit stuff although I still have a VIA Artigo I may keep, just like my sparc systems...
And in effect the problem didn't go away, it only changed hands. Now somebody else will want to have a 32bit OS to put on that.
All in all, unless something meaningful happens in the tech world, I think we will see working 32bit hardware at least until 2020. Effectively until it totally breaks down.
Some of these machines aren't easy to replace, e.g. the netbooks use a 32bit intel atom cpu. Since then there isn't any machine type that if fit to replace them (ultrabooks are larger, netbooks were 10" or 8"). That's a nifty, handy machine to carry around, which needs a 32bit system. And that's only 1 of the examples.
The easy replaceable machines are normal desktops and laptops, and there probably aren't many of those around that have 32bit cpus. But it's the machines with uncommon form factors, that people want to keep running despite aging hardware, cause there isn't anything suitable to replace them (no, android tablets are not a replacement, unless they'll allow to install a totally custom OS).
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Felix Miata -
jdd -
Malcolm -
Richard Brown -
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Łukasz 'Cyber Killer' Korpalski