I also have some old hardware around that could have problems with booting from something other then the CD sets. But seriously...
I should have thrown in away a decade ago. Also I can by more powerful used hardware that those (with DVD support) for a dozen of Euros.
Therefore I think that such old hardware should not waste any time of Debians developer community. Your time is more valuable then all the theoretical hardware that would have problems with ditching the CD sets.
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