#1 2025-09-10 20:19:25

aramir86

New Member

Registered: 2025-09-10

Posts: 4

Hey everyone

I recently undusted my old Intel Atom-powered NB200 netbook and decided it deserved a new lease on life with Linux. After a lengthy search I found a near-perfect match that still supports 32-bit hardware: BunsenLabs. It's a shame that Debian is dropping 32-bit support, so I'll shrug and enjoy it while I can.

I've already begun tinkering with BunsenLabs to pare it down and squeeze as much performance and efficiency out of the little machine as possible, and I'm learning a lot along the way. Hi to everyone here - congratulations to the team and community for keeping the project in such great shape.

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2015-09-09

Posts: 12,606

Website

Re: Hey everyone

Hi @aramir86 welcome to the community!

Yes it's a pity that Debian will not support 32bit kernels or installers from Trixie onwards, although many packages will still have 32bit builds. (I also have a nice little 32bit laptop that I'd like to keep usable for a while longer...)

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...elevator in the Brain Hotel, broken down but just as well...
( a boring Japan blog (currently paused), now on Bluesky, there's also some GitStuff )

Introduction to the Bunsenlabs Boron Desktop

aramir86

New Member

Registered: 2025-09-10

Posts: 4

Re: Hey everyone

I have too many working laptops and desktops lying around, but this little Toshiba brings back fond memories of my first steps into commercial software development. Back then I could do heavy programming on it; today it barely runs a modern web browser. As a fan of retro computing and the demoscene, I've started to wonder if we've lost something. In my childhood I could run a true multitasking OS from a single floppy on a 1 MB, 7 MHz 68k CPU. Now I need a few dozen megabytes just to have a nice wallpaper, some shiny icons and a terminal window - a small price for polish, but a stark contrast to the lean elegance of those tiny, brilliantly optimized systems.

Döbbie03

Resident Metalhead

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 3,861

Re: Hey everyone

Welcome!!

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"Led Zeppelin didn't write tunes that everybody liked, they left that to the Bee Gees."
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darknetmatrix

Member

From: /home/labs

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 178

Website

Re: Hey everyone

welcome aramir86

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⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system linux user # 527315
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Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2015-09-29

Posts: 9,084

Website

Re: Hey everyone

Hello aramir86, welcome to the forums!

Debian is dropping 32-bit support

Debian 12 (bookworm) still fully supports 32-bit x86 processors (i386) and they will continue to be supported until 2028-06-30[1], which is the exact same release and level of support that BunsenLabs offers for the Boron release.

I wouldn't recommend using an i386 processor for anything serious though, their lack of support for the NX bit makes them rather insecure.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2025-09-14 09:57:03)

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Para todos todo, para nosotros nada

aramir86

New Member

Registered: 2025-09-10

Posts: 4

Re: Hey everyone

Whoa. Thank you. I just learned something new today. To be honest, since I installed BunsenLabs I've learned more over the last few days than over the last year when it comes to Linux. Luckily, my Intel Atom N280 has Execute-Disable Bit Capability and it's enabled in BIOS, so I assume the Linux kernel 6.1.0-39-686 takes it into account. Anyway, I treat this as an exercise. Have plenty of decent hardware capable of running Linux smoothly, but it takes away all the fun. I am sure I'll take advantage of a more modern setup in the next few months. For now I am testing this on a knife-edge.