I've had luck with puppy Linux on 32-bit machines. I also got arch32 working on a few. Arch is a steepper learning curve as the arch-install script doesn't work on 32. Related there's quite a group keeping parabola working on all manner of systems including 32, if libre is more your style.
this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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MX Linux is a nice Debian based distro that still supports 32-bit. Or you could use just Debian.
I have MX Linux on my old Dell Inspiron 1300 that refuses to die after 20 years. Great distro, I like it better than Ubuntu in some ways - just difficult to install some software built for 64 bit only of course
Just install plan 9. It is better than anything else.
Interesting research project but it’s not Linux and doesn’t natively run Linux apps.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/21/successor_to_unix_plan_9/
Poppy Linux should do.
From a recent search i made, with similar purpose, these may support x86 and are based on either Debian or Ubuntu: antiX, Q4OS, Slax; Zorin Lite, LXLE.
(I haven't combed through the results yet so YMMV and there may be cadavers.)
Thank you - that's a really useful answer. I'll check them out
Well, Debian has a 32-bit ISO, and since Ubuntu is based on Debian you may consider giving it a try?
Check out Antix, Debian based, and it's primarily made for older devices and has a 32bit ISO
AntiX runs great on my late 90s Celeron rig with a 1.2GHz single core socket 370 Celeron with 256MB RAM.
Runs waaaaaay better than Windows XP and slightly slower than Windows 98 SE.
I second this suggestion. I have an old touchscreen PC from about 2001 with a Via Eden CPU, which is an incredibly feeble low-power processor that lacks some instructions that were common even in 32-bit days, and Antix was the only reasonably modern distro I could get to run on it.
LMDE. Not Ubuntu based, but Debian based so its the closest I can think on the top of my head. It got 32 bit support and Cinnamon desktop.
Thank you - I'll have a look at that
It seems that 18.04 was the last release for 32-bit x86 (i386): https://askubuntu.com/questions/1376090/latest-version-of-ubuntu-for-i386-architecture-32-bit
But you could just go for Debian which still supports it.