Is anyone here still using a 32 bit operating system?

[Kinsie]

Windows 3.1 was absolutely not suited to games at all. There were a number of valiant attempts to sandpaper over the cracks like WinG, each with their own pros and cons. The Win3.1 port of Westwood's Lion King game had enough widespread compatibility issues that it really bought the situation to a head, resulting in the beginning of what ultimately became DirectX.

 

That any non-puzzle games were able to run on pre-95 Windows is one of those tiny miracles.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

I really see no benefit of using 32 bit operating systems unless you absolutely cannot afford a 64 bit computer, and even then, I don't know many *supported* 32 bit OS' aside of a few GNU/Linux distros (ArchLinux32 exists for example, I think Debian and Gentoo also support 32 bit), maybe FreeBSD as well. Maybe if you require legacy software that only runs on 32 bit, but aside from that, it's best to just switch to 64 bit.

And since some other guys are dropping their specs, I might as well drop mine too, low end hardware but thanks to Arch It Just Works^TM.

Spoiler

OS: Arch Linux x86_64
Host: HP EliteBook 8440p
Kernel: 6.4.1-arch2-1
Uptime: 2 hours, 38 mins
Packages: 871 (pacman), 5 (flatpak)
Shell: zsh 5.9
Resolution: 1366x768
WM: dwm
Theme: Arc-Gruvbox [GTK2/3]
Icons: Adwaita [GTK2/3]
Terminal: st
Terminal Font: NotoColorEmoji
CPU: Intel i7 M 620 (4) @ 2.667GHz
GPU: NVIDIA NVS 3100M
Memory: 1970MiB / 3783MiB

 

[Herr Dethnout]

41 minutes ago, xX_Lol6_Xx said:

I really see no benefit of using 32 bit operating systems unless you absolutely cannot afford a 64 bit computer.

I mean, I you cannot afford a 64 bit computer, you cannot afford a PC at all.

 

Seriously, mi PC is the cheapest and lower end possible and has support for 64bits (I'm talking about a 2009 pentium dual core ffs)

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

1 minute ago, Herr Dethnout said:

I mean, I you cannot afford a 64 bit computer, you cannot afford a PC at all.

Hmm you have a point, aside from really old Thinkpads I can't think of any 32 bit pc/laptop being actually sold nowadays.

3 minutes ago, Herr Dethnout said:

Seriously, mi PC is the cheapest and lower end possible and has support for 64bits (I'm talking about a 2009 pentium dual core ffs) 

Heh, according to Wikipedia mine's (The 8440p) from 2008, four years younger than me, and it runs Arch Linux (btw) perfectly.

[toiletisback]

I still use 32 bit, but it's hard to convert to 64 bit. I'll have to delete all my data (reset the pc) to install 64 bit.

[Murdoch]

9 hours ago, toiletisback said:

I still use 32 bit, but it's hard to convert to 64 bit. I'll have to delete all my data (reset the pc) to install 64 bit.

 

You should have backups of your data so you wouldn't have to delete it. Just restore it and put it back. By persisting with 32 bit, you are drastically limiting yourself.

[THEBaratusII]

I made the switch to 64-bit at the near of 2012 I believe. Aside from the lack of compatibility for 16-bit applications, (at least we have winevdm for that) I don't see myself reverting back. Though I only use 32-bit OSes for hobbyist reasons. (like vintage computing)

[taufan99]

My first laptop, which was initially my first sibling's, was a 32-bit one. I remember being unable to run GZDoom at the time because of that (aside from lack of sufficient cutting-edge OpenGL-compatible hardware). Every other laptop I've used has since been 64-bit, starting from vocational high school years.

[vyruss]

I've been using a 64 bit OS since I had my first 64-bit processor on an old AMD Sempron 3000+ (I think - this was in 2005!).  Only reason I have anything 32-bit as an OS running is because I am using an antique system.

[toiletisback]

On 8/14/2024 at 4:14 PM, toiletisback said:

I still use 32 bit, but it's hard to convert to 64 bit. I'll have to delete all my data (reset the pc) to install 64 bit.

By the way, I'm using an Acer laptop made sometime in the mid-2010s, bought in 2016, running Windows 10. 

[P_A_Z]

Since a long time, i had a PC in my living room with Windows 7 32 bits connected on my TV with the router for watching movies, television channels, listening to music and playing games like Assassin's Creed with a gamepad, my second PC 64 bits was connected in Wi-Fi in another room. Since i moved to a big town, i have changed of internet service provider called Free. I have a TV decoder connected in Wi-Fi from the router, I can watch Canal + (a french channel), Netflix, Disney in addition to the bouquet of channels.

So i gave this PC to my mother because i don't need anymore to keep it in my living room. I only have one 64 bits PC with Windows 10 with the router in a room to work, gaming and listening to music. it's more than enough. I will upgrade to Windows 11 in november 2025 because the services of Windows 10 will stopped at this date.

Edited August 17 by P_A_Z

[Murdoch]

11 hours ago, toiletisback said:

By the way, I'm using an Acer laptop made sometime in the mid-2010s, bought in 2016, running Windows 10. 

 

Unless its a shitty netbook or similar, the CPU is almost certainly capable of 64 bit. Also, if it's running on it's original mechanical hard drive that drive's probably on it's last legs. If you're comfortable doing it yourself, you should fit an SSD to the laptop and reinstall 64 bit Windows. The performance difference will be night and day. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself then it's probably not financially sensible to pay someone to do it on such an old machine. Just keep your backups up to date.

[B00m3r Doomer]

On 7/7/2023 at 6:00 AM, Kinsie said:

Windows 3.1 was absolutely not suited to games at all. There were a number of valiant attempts to sandpaper over the cracks like WinG, each with their own pros and cons. The Win3.1 port of Westwood's Lion King game had enough widespread compatibility issues that it really bought the situation to a head, resulting in the beginning of what ultimately became DirectX.

 

That any non-puzzle games were able to run on pre-95 Windows is one of those tiny miracles.

 

At the time, you did not run games from Win 3.1, but from DOS. Unlike Windows 9x, Windows 3.1 was NOT an OS but only a window manager you ran on top of MS DOS 5x. And be sure gamers who played on a 386 PC with 16 MB RAM really did not want to start a software which was not mandatory for playing: at the time every MB in memory and CPU clock cycle was a very precious resource you needed to save if you wanted a decent game experience. As far as I remember, I used to have a specific boot configuration to play Doom on my 1992 Compaq 386 potato at the time : I had to disable the CD-ROM driver and some functions of my sound card in my MS DOS config.sys to save 500 KB of RAM usage, just to be able to properly start Doom...

[YeOldeFellerNoob]

I am a strict professional PowerPC user baby

[Doom64guy]

For those who still use 32-bit computers, you have less than 14 years before the Y2K38 bug arrived.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem