A 32 bit OS

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Geshmy
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Joined: 04/23/2015

"Nabia will be the first release to not have support for 32-bit hardware on x86, while Trisquel 9.0.2 Etiona will continue to provide support for x86 32-bit machines until April 2023." [https://trisquel.info/en/trisquel-10-nabia-release-announcement]

I have a netbook that is old 32 bit arch. I want to use it as a recording studio tool and installed a Trisquel 9 iso.

Unfortunately, I was not able to add any software on top of the minimal install. As I explain here, https://trisquel.info/en/forum/help-making-and-recording-music, it seems that Trisquel 9, Etonia, is not being supported anymore. So, I guess, Trisquel has no 32 bit OS to offer.

I moved on and with much trial and error did get another Linux OS that was willing to install and give me access to the kind of programs I need.

In the process I read somewhere that in much of the developing world the 32 bit systems are the rule. I guess they are making use of the Western world's hand me downs. If that's true then a totally free software, user friendly OS is not available to much of the developing world.

I think we are losing support for a 32 bit system due to Ubuntu's decision to abandon it. I am grateful for the people who have taken on the responsbility of keeping Trisquel going. They do fantastic work and no doubt have more on their plate than they can handle.

It might be beneficial to free software if someone could say fork Trisquel with a focus of producing a totally free 32 bit OS. Unfortunately, I'm only qualified to raise the idea.

andyprough
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Joined: 02/12/2015

Parabola, Hyperbola, and Guix all seem to still have 32-bit ISO's available for download.

The most similar to Trisquel seems to be Gnuinos, although it's not endorsed yet by the FSF.

Avron

I am a translator!

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Joined: 08/18/2020

Etiona is still supported, see my reply to your post.

Geshmy
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Joined: 04/23/2015

Re 'Parabola, Hyperbola, and Guix all seem to still have 32-bit ISO's available for download.' None of those are user friendly for non techies. Trisquel is the easiest to install and use for the average person.

Also, I tried guinos and I don't remember why but I moved on.

Re Reply, changing https to http in /etc/apt/sources.list would work. I never thought of that, good idea.

I think Midori said the TLS certificate was expired.

andyprough
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Joined: 02/12/2015

>"Re 'Parabola, Hyperbola, and Guix all seem to still have 32-bit ISO's available for download.' None of those are user friendly for non techies."

True. They aren't even user friendly for "techies". I've written up my struggles with Hyperbola and Guix on this forum.

>"Also, I tried guinos and I don't remember why but I moved on."

I did too, and I do remember why - I was more interested in trying other distros at the time. But I don't recall Gnuinos being bad. If you put Mate on it and installed the appropriate packages, it would be a reasonable replacement for Trisquel 32-bit.

Maybe I should try making a 32-bit Mate respin of Gnuinos, see if people like it.

Legimet
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Joined: 12/10/2013

I thought Parabola was fine for "techies" when I tried it. It's no more difficult than using Arch. However the installation process is too convoluted for the average person.

Not sure about Guix as a standalone distribution. I've tried Guix to install a few packages, and I liked the concept but updates were too slow.

Avron

I am a translator!

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Joined: 08/18/2020

I agree that installation of Parabola is not possible for an average person. There was an iso with Calamares but it is too old, I failed to do updates after installed.

However, once installed, the maintenance and updates requires no more effort than Trisquel, at least for my usage.

Really, Parabola need people to help, perhaps also to make a nice installer. I would like to help but I am still having difficulties to understand how to do.

Updating Guix is a pain indeed. I tried it as a standalone distro a little but updates are really a pain. People are helping easily on the Guix help list but I find the documentation from Parabola (and Arch) much more readable.

I decided to stop using Guix on Trisquel, I can live with older software versions.

Geshmy
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Joined: 04/23/2015

I came upon this post startpaging:
https://trisquel.info/en/forum/most-libre-version-devuan-there-except-gnuinos

It seems like the project gnuinos had died but someone from here was reviving it. Do you think fsf will recognize it?

Sounds like a cool and beneficial project Andy.

Hopefully one can manually configure their network params during install. I tried to install a couple of netinstall OSes and would have had to change my network to complete the process. I'm stubborn, not doing that.

If you can do it, I'll definitely give it a try.

prospero
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Joined: 05/20/2022

Let us not forget that 32-bit support may be back with Trisquel 11: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/trisquel-support-32-bit-hardware.

> a 32-bit Mate respin of Gnuinos

Would it not be simpler to install MATE on a 32-bit Gnuinos system? In fact, I would probably rather use 32-bit Trisquel 9, then leapfrog to 32-bit Trisquel 11.