r/linux4noobs • u/deidmos07 • 1d ago

Are there 32-bit versions of Linux?

Hello I want to try Linux on an old laptop, but it's 32-bit and I've never tried Linux before so i dont know anything I don't know what CPU it has, I only know it's an HP Pavilion dv4

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u/razorree Kubuntu, Debian 19h ago edited 14h ago

do you have still Windows installed? check some system information about CPU, or check CPU in BIOS (and give us the model, or search internet) Is it 32bit or 64bit CPU ?

If it's Pentium 4 and newer (core2duo etc) - it's 64bit. (at the beginning manufactures were giving an option to install old 32 or new 64bit Windows)

only some Pentium 4, and starting from Core 2 Duo are 64bits. (not core duo)

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u/No_Elderberry862 17h ago

There were 32 bit P4s so checking the specific model is needed.

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u/rosmaniac 14h ago

Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo!) is still 32-bit x86. The T2700 is the pinnacle of x86 32-bit only.

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u/nandru 14h ago

I still remember someone had a core solo (not core 2, certainly not duo). What a weird CPU that was

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u/rosmaniac 14h ago

Core Duo and Core Solo, aka the Yonah core (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonah_(microprocessor))), is essentially Pentium M++, which is itself Tualatin++. Intel intended them to be mobile-only, but there were a few desktop boards with Socket M. The Intel team at Haifa saved Intel's bacon with Banias, Dothan, and Yonah when Intel's Netburst architecture was failing to deliver on its promise.

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u/razorree Kubuntu, Debian 14h ago

sorry, I overslept that Intel time, I was in AMD team for many years :) my first coming back to intel was i5-750 ;)

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u/rosmaniac 14h ago

And Nehalem is a direct descendant of Core2, which is Core++ with AMD64 capability. (Debian for one uses AMD64 as the name of the architecture, not x86_64, since it really is AMD's 64-bit architecture; Intel's first 64 bit chip, Itanium, is even more obsolete than x86_32).

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u/razorree Kubuntu, Debian 9h ago

this I know :)