Linux Mint will also abandon 32bits starting with Linux Mint 20

Linux Mint without 32bits

In my opinion, this is bad news. About a decade ago I bought a laptop with a 10.1 ″ screen, small and discreet, and it came with Windows 7, more specifically with a very limited version called "Starter". Shortly after buying it I installed Ubuntu on it, and later Unity came along. A disaster. That's when I started looking for Ubuntu-based versions that were worth it and that's how I met Linux Mint.

I have told this short story because that little computer had a 32-bit processor and to explain that it is positive that there are Linux-based operating systems that support them. The truth is that we are no longer at the beginning of this decade and there are fewer and fewer 32-bit computers, but the news that Clement Lefebvre gave yesterday is bad for those who still have a somewhat older computer: the operating system that it develops will drop support for 32bits as of Linux Mint 20.

Linux Mint will continue to support some 32-bit apps

Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu and what it will do with respect to 32bits will be the same as the operating system developed by Canonical: they will not release 32bit images, but the systems will be compatible with this type of application, among which we will have Wine and Steam, two of which complained when Canonical said it would abandon support for the i386 architecture.

Linux Mint 20 will be released after the release of Ubuntu 20.04, version on which it will be based. Lefebvre reminds that Linux Mint 19.x will be supported until 2023, so any user with a computer with a 32-bit processor will continue to have a version of Mint available for almost four more years. From there, you will have to look for other solutions or resign yourself to not receiving more updates.

Other changes to come

La note of this The month also tells us about interesting news that will come to the operating system developed by the Lefebvre team, among which we have:

  • possibility of pin items to Nemo: This will make them appear at the top of the side panel, so they are always at hand.
  • New conditional actions in Nemo: this will allow us to implement conditions, such as scripts or external commands. Although it does not explain it like this, it implies that, for example, we can create a script to resize images and it will appear when you secondary click on an article.
  • Faster Cinnamon Menu. It will use less RAM.
  • Scroll bar settings: who does not like overlapping scroll bars or want to override theme settings will be able to change it.
  • Xapps improvements.

Last but not least (or yes), they have also told us about the MintBox 3, a computer with Mint inside that will be available in two versions:

  1. Basic configuration: i5 processor (6 cores), 16 GB RAM, 256 GB EVO 970, Wi-Fi and FM-AT3 FACE module, for a price of $ 1543 (€ 1366).
  2. High-end: i9 processor, GTX 1660 Ti, 32 GB RAM, 1TB EVO 970, WiFi and FM-AT3 FACE module, for $ 2698 (€ 2389).

Linus Mint 20 and the end of the 32bits will arrive from April 2020.

linux mint tessa
Related article:
Linux Mint 19.2, codename "Tina" in tribute to the famous singer

6 comments, leave yours

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  1.   Solid oak said

    Mint was my favorite distro, but with this news I will now have to migrate.
    And the solution that I see soon is to switch to Debian10 LXQT which is very fast and they still distribute it for 32 bits.
    Luckily, there are still options. Greetings.

  2.   buxxx said

    mint is a graphical environment, what's under the hood is the core of ubuntu, so what ubuntu does affects mint directly, period.

  3.   Cambra said

    The GNU / Linux environment, as usual, is catching on again, a shot in the foot by abandoning 32 bits and leaving the field free for proprietary software. Who thinks someone is going to test an unknown operating system on their main computer? I already tell you: nobody. They will continue with their 32-bit windows and the idea that windows is "the safe thing" is reinforced; And let's not say in African countries, or in many places in South America and Southeast Asia. What was said: a shot in the foot. Sorry to say: Ubuntu has screwed up and taken a lot of its own future; is what you have to look for short-term benefits, without a strategy for the future.

  4.   francisco loyal said

    Explanation of why that merciless attack on 32 bits and the definitive solution in the union is always the exit

  5.   Javier Moruno said

    A real shame that LInux Mint abandons 32 bits. Another that comes to gild the pill of the hardware manufacturers. If your system works, it is robust, secure, meets all your requirements, needs and expectations ... what reason is there to buy a new 64-bit computer? None. I went to LInux Mint because poor Windows XP (32-bit) was also left for dead, like Windows 7. And I have not regretted anything. The "safety" song is no excuse.

  6.   RAFAEL said

    Although it has already run since this news, we are already in 2021, I take the opportunity to criticize this decision of Cannonical and by dragging all the gnu-linux OS that are based on it. With a 64-bit market taken over by windows 10, it seems to me a commercial decision that forsakes all those who rely on linux to abandon windows 7 on 32-bit computers. Windows 10 does exist in 32-bit, but it doesn't "run" well, thus abandoning the entire 32-bit market. It is clear that the future passes through 64 bits, but many of us have 32-bit "second computers" that will be orphaned in 2023. We still have 2 years for free distributions such as linux mint to rethink this decision or maintain a kind of "Rolling release" from the last version supported by 32 bits. Failing that, we can always resort to debian or open suse, which do continue to maintain them. I find it surprising that this catastrophic decision to abandon 32-bit has not caused the same uproar in the community that the inclusion of snaps in Ubuntu has caused.