[eric__cartman]

Those operating systems already exist. You can run NetBSD on pretty much anything (it currently supports machines with a Motorola 68k CPU for example). Granted many of those machines still have an MMU iirc but everything is still simple enough to be comprehend by a single person with some knowledge in systems programming.

[jmclnx]

FWIW, Linux is not the only OS looking into dropping 32bit.

FreeBSD is dumping 32 bit:

https://www.osnews.com/story/138578/freebsd-15-16-to-end-sup...

OpenBSD has this quote:

>...most i386 hardware, only easy and critical security fixes are backported to i386

I tend to think that means 32bit on at least x86 days are numbered.

https://www.openbsd.org/i386.html

I think DragonflyBSD never supported 32bit

For 32bit, I guess NetBSD may eventually be the only game in town.

[kimixa]

NetBSD doesn't support any devices without an mmu.

I think people here are misunderstanding just how "weird" and hacky trying to run an OS like linux on those devices really is.

[kbolino]

Yeah, a lot of what defines "operating system" for us nowadays is downstream of having memory isolation.

Not having an MMU puts you more into the territory of DOS than UNIX. There is FreeDOS but I'm pretty sure it's x86-only.

[arp242]

To clarify: NetBSD has never supported non-MMU systems, or at least hasn't for decades. As opposed to something they removed recently(-ish).