On Tue, Aug 20, 2019 at 04:21:43PM +0100, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
that 32-bit hardware is consigned to landfill. debian has a far higher impact (as a leader, due to the number of ports) than i think anyone realises. if debian says "we're dropping 32 bit hardware", that's it, it's done.
That's their decision, but I think the correct answer is that 32 bit hardware is rapidly moving to a place where it's not applicable to a general purpose operating system. From your long list of hardware, there's not much that I'd want to run firefox on, for example. So, if your hardware isn't right for a general purpose OS...run a specialized OS. netbsd still has a vax port...
to give you some idea of how influential debian really is: one of *the* most iconic processors that AMD, bless 'em, tried desperately for about a decade to End-of-Life, was the AMD Geode LX800. the reason why it wouldn't die is because up until around 2013, *debian still supported it* out-of-the-box.
IMO, debian wasn't what kept geode going. Long term contracts involving embedded devices (which don't usually run debian) are more influential then the state of OS support. In fact, the geode EoL has been pushed back to 2021, regardless of the lack of debian support. Considering how many of these embedded boards are still running windows XP, having an up to date general purpose OS simply doesn't seem to be a major factor.