[SOLVED] Use 32-bit Slackware? Post here to let the developers know!

dlachausse · 02-06-2013, 11:00 AM

Eric, I'm relatively new to the Slackware world (13.37), but I can see how much of a difference you make in the Slackware community.

For purely selfish reasons I hope you continue to be involved in Slackware. However, if you decide you need a break or to step down permanently from the team, we should all be supportive of it and accept it as you've supported our favorite distro all these years.

I guess I just want to say thank you for all you've contributed and again, I hope you're not leaving permanently.

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-06-2013, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlachausse

For purely selfish reasons I hope you continue to be involved in Slackware. However, if you decide you need a break or to step down permanently from the team, we should all be supportive of it and accept it as you've supported our favorite distro all these years.

I agree, do what you have to do. Good luck either way.

TobiSGD · 02-06-2013, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Vader

Where computers have penetrated later, most likely came after they become affordable enough. So, will usually find a Pentium II or K6-II. Or even more better. I mean they have computers that are i686 or better.

I find it quite funny that you come with that example for the case of deprecating i486 in favor of i686. You do realize that the K6-II is not i686 compatible?

Before discussing that topic I would want to know if there are significant differences in performance when compiling for i686 compared to compiling for i486 but optimized for i686. Has anybody a link to benchmarks for this?

harryhaller · 02-06-2013, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

Coincidentally, we discussed this topic internally, this week. The general consensus was that 32-bit Slackware is not yet going away.

Eric

That's a relief. I usually buy second-hand pcs and I wouldn't want my choice to be narrowed anymore than is already being done, and will continue to be done, by the attempts to lock out free software by such things as UEFI and any other future developments in that direction.

harryhaller · 02-06-2013, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H

@Alien Bob

If your personal decision is informed then so be it. However, I do recommend that you think about it and perhaps reconsider.

@Alien Bob
I beg you to reconsider.

cynwulf · 02-07-2013, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

I find it quite funny that you come with that example for the case of deprecating i486 in favor of i686. You do realize the the K6-II is not i686 compatible?

For a K6-2 or K6-III you need a distro which provides a 486 kernel. Debian does, Slackware it would seem does not?

Alien Bob · 02-07-2013, 03:12 AM

The Slackware 32-bit non-SMP kernel should work for K6-III, right?

Eric

Didier Spaier · 02-07-2013, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Bob

The Slackware 32-bit non-SMP kernel should work for K6-III, right?

Eric

At least, that what says the config file as it selects 486 among the processor families.

@caravel so you could take huge.s as a basis then re-configure upgrading the processor family to K6/K6-II/K6-III for better performance

cynwulf · 02-07-2013, 03:33 AM

If the configuration selects 486 then surely it's a 486 kernel?

The K6 CPU's lack the cmov instruction, which is why a kernel built for 686 ("Pentium Pro" - I think it's called in the config) will panic.

Didier Spaier · 02-07-2013, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caravel

If the configuration selects 486 then surely it's a 486 kernel

Of course.

If you plan to use one, read /extra/linux-3.2.29-nosmp-sdk/README.TXT if you need to build kernel modules for it.

Broker824 · 02-07-2013, 04:19 AM

I use two 32-bit Slackware.

Two out of my three machines have 64-bit CPUs, but only my main machine are 64-bit (multilib), Dell laptop with 8 GB RAM (Dell N-5110).
Desktop computer has a 64-bit CPU with 4 GB RAM, but I use 32-bit Slackware, and I use 32-bit Slackware to my netbook Dell Mini 1018 with 1 gb RAM.

I think Slackware 32-bit is necessary.

lupe · 02-07-2013, 08:26 AM

I also use Slackware 32 bits in four machines, two of them are servers.

rinias · 02-07-2013, 01:16 PM

I also use 32-bit Slackware for my netbook as well as on occasion for reviving dinosaurs. growl

Also, I just wanted to express my gratitude to all those who hack for Slackware: your work helps me every day! Thank you for all that you do.

guanx · 02-08-2013, 05:45 AM

Half of my desktop computers are 32-bit. I have two Pentium M 750's and one Core Duo U2500. These CPUs work very well and often they are not the bottleneck. Because these hardware are not broken, I have no plan to "fix" them and upgrade to 64-bit.

Citramonum · 02-08-2013, 06:32 AM

I'm using only 32-bit Slackware. Hope Slackware will not become one of those distros that run only on maintainers' hardware.