http://www.techradar.com/pro/linux December 2019 LXF257 17MAILSERVER
Do you have a
burning Linux-
related issue
that you want to
discuss? Write
to us at Linux
Format, Future
Publishing, Quay
House, The
Ambury, Bath,
BA1 1UA or email
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futurenet.com.the Mycroft home assistant (https://mycroft.ai). The
community is very active, check the discussions at
https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/voice to see what’s
new. It’s something of a game-changer.Vi oh Vi?
Seriously? You do a text editor Roundup and include
Emacs but not Vi? At the very least you could have
replaced Emacs with Nano, or something like Sublime
Te x t (not free or open source, but can easily be used
without registration or purchase) or MS Visual Studio
Code. I think you’re in danger of starting a Holy War
here. I’d cancel my subscription, but I still really enjoy
it so I will have to live with the shame.
Andrew AppletonNeil says...
<begin risky reply> We considered it overkill to include
Vi. The idea was to offer a range of different types of
editors to readers. Anyone that knows about editors will
be very well aware of Vi and Emacs, so it seemed
pointless including both, but including one seem
required to show the spectrum available.
Vi is mentioned in the ‘Also consider’ box, as a
consolation! Holy Wars didn’t really cross my mind as I
think the majority of the readership just want something
that works for them.WRITE TO US
LETTER OF THE MONTH
Supporting the old
I have to applaud Canonical for their ability
to respond to user worries and make the
change! However, while I can understand
gaming community worries about losing
32-bit packages, I would be far more
concerned for the surely millions of people in much poorer parts
of the world who would be running legacy hardware and who
would simply not be able to afford 64-bit kit so quickly.
I have no idea how many 32-bit machines run Ubuntu, a word
with African origins, in developing nations, but FOSS has to be
software of choice for the poorest users. I would question the oft-
made claim that 32-bit kit is ‘pretty rare’.
And what does the world do with redundant kit? While plastic
waste is getting a bit more attention lately, the mountains of IT
waste, already pretty high I guess, can only become yet higher if
redundancy of 32-bit kit is accelerated without some kind of
universal plan to deal with it. Maybe it’s time the IT industry
thought more about this. As a Linux user I do not have answers
but when my 32-bit machines finally no longer get supported I
doubt I can return the kit to the manufacturer for recycling!
Graham Borgonon, CambridgeNeil says...
The issue is (in my opinion) that Canonical wants to concentrate on
its business (no matter how wrong anyone feels that is) over perhaps
fully supporting the wider community. I’m totally for extending the life
of usable hardware, but there is a best-before date on hardware. The
last mainstream desktop Intel 32-bit CPU – the Pentium 4 – was
manufactured around 2008. Sure, there were a few odd Atom models
in 2015 – so on the whole we’re talking desktop systems at least a
decade old, if not a lot more.
My point? The real issue isn’t
supporting old hardware, it’s
supporting old software. Being
hard-nosed about things, Ubuntu
18.04 LTS 32-bit will get support
updates until 2028, so there’s
always that as an option, but it’s
not my job to defend Canonical
or the many other distros
dropping 32-bit support...Wine, Steam, printers, drivers will all run into
serious issues with no 32-bit library support.We’ve looked at Emacs recently – time for Vi?http://www.techradar.com/pro/linux December 2019 LXF257 17MAILSERVER
Doyouhavea
burning Linux-
related issue
that you want to
discuss? Write
to us at Linux
Format, Future
Publishing, Quay
House, The
Ambury, Bath,
BA1 1UA or email
lxf.letters@
futurenet.com.the Mycroft home assistant (https://mycroft.ai). The
community is very active, check the discussions at
https://discourse.mozilla.org/c/voice to see what’s
new. It’s something of a game-changer.
Vi oh Vi?
Seriously? You do a text editor Roundup and include
Emacs but not Vi? At the very least you could have
replaced Emacs with Nano, or something like Sublime
Te x t (not free or open source, but can easily be used
without registration or purchase) or MS Visual Studio
Code. I think you’re in danger of starting a Holy War
here. I’d cancel my subscription, but I still really enjoy
it so I will have to live with the shame.
Andrew Appleton
Neil says...
Vi. The idea was to offer a range of different types of
editors to readers. Anyone that knows about editors will
be very well aware of Vi and Emacs, so it seemed
pointless including both, but including one seem
required to show the spectrum available.
Vi is mentioned in the ‘Also consider’ box, as a
consolation! Holy Wars didn’t really cross my mind as I
think the majority of the readership just want something
that works for them.
WRITE TO US
LETTER OF THE MONTH
Supporting the old
I have to applaud Canonical for their ability
to respond to user worries and make the
change! However, while I can understand
gaming community worries about losing
32-bit packages, I would be far more
concerned for the surely millions of people in much poorer parts
of the world who would be running legacy hardware and who
would simply not be able to afford 64-bit kit so quickly.
I have no idea how many 32-bit machines run Ubuntu, a word
with African origins, in developing nations, but FOSS has to be
software of choice for the poorest users. I would question the oft-
made claim that 32-bit kit is ‘pretty rare’.
And what does the world do with redundant kit? While plastic
waste is getting a bit more attention lately, the mountains of IT
waste, already pretty high I guess, can only become yet higher if
redundancy of 32-bit kit is accelerated without some kind of
universal plan to deal with it. Maybe it’s time the IT industry
thought more about this. As a Linux user I do not have answers
but when my 32-bit machines finally no longer get supported I
doubt I can return the kit to the manufacturer for recycling!
Graham Borgonon, CambridgeNeil says...
The issue is (in my opinion) that Canonical wants to concentrate on
its business (no matter how wrong anyone feels that is) over perhaps
fully supporting the wider community. I’m totally for extending the life
of usable hardware, but there is a best-before date on hardware. The
last mainstream desktop Intel 32-bit CPU – the Pentium 4 – was
manufactured around 2008. Sure, there were a few odd Atom models
in 2015 – so on the whole we’re talking desktop systems at least a
decade old, if not a lot more.
My point? The real issue isn’t
supporting old hardware, it’s
supporting old software. Being
hard-nosed about things, Ubuntu
18.04 LTS 32-bit will get support
updates until 2028, so there’s
always that as an option, but it’s
not my job to defend Canonical
or the many other distros
dropping 32-bit support...Wine, Steam, printers, drivers will all run into
serious issues with no 32-bit library support.We’ve looked at Emacs recently – time for Vi?