Linux kernel will soon drop ~~i386~~ (32-bit) support (web.archive.org)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/permacomputing

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The article title is “Debian Likely Moving Away From i386 In The Near Future” but according to the article Debian will drop i386 support because it will be dropped from the kernel. Seems like bad news for permacomputing folks.

(EDIT) modified the title since it seems more accurate to say that 32-bit support is being dropped. (reference)

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[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 9 points 11 months ago

This isn't talking about the microprocessor model from 1985, if that's what you're thinking.

Rather, that microprocessor was the first to introduce the x86 32-bit architecture, which is getting discontinued here.
So, that includes some hardware still manufactured in the early 2000s...

[-] Aggravationstation@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Yea I have a 32 bit machine from 2007.

[-] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That’s quite interesting because the spy chips¹ began in 2008ish. So people who avoid the spy chips are losing options. ~~There may not be many 64bit machines that pre-date the spy chips~~ (edit: there might be a 5-year span of 64-bit AMD spy-free chips). I’m lucky to have a machine from 2008 just before the anti-consumer chips came out. IIUC there is only one modern architecture that avoids the spy chips: the IBM Power11.

1: spy chips → Intel’s Management Engine/ARM trustzone/AMD’s Platform Security Processor; tech that is anti-non-corporate consumer

[-] tallship 1 points 11 months ago

Um.... Are you referring to the most ubiquitous OS worldwide nowadays... Minix?

[-] activistPnk@slrpnk.net 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Referring to Minix was not my intent. A short overview of the issue is here. As you apparently know Intel chips after 2008 use Minix for the management engine but I’m not sure to what extent Minix itself is a factor the vulns. The problem is the mere existence of an attack surface hard-wired into processors that can be externally exploited when the purpose of the ME is useless to non-corporate users. Bugs have been discovered that enable attackers to install malicious firmware¹. AMD’s PSP is also a problem and I don’t know if the PSP OS has been revealed. PSP is composed of an ARM processor with Trustzone, but I don’t know what OS Trustzone uses.

I just realized I forgot AMD PSP did not hit until 2013, so I guess there must be a lot of 64bit spychip-free boards out there made from 2008—2013.

1: ⚠ that link is enshitified with autoplay so I suggest using Lynx to access it.

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this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023

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