Why is there no 32 bit ISO for the new Ubuntu 18.04?

Why is there no 32 bit ISO for the new Ubuntu 18.04?

Solution 1:

There are 32 bit ISO from the new 18.04 LTS distro, but not standard Ubuntu. The community flavours have uploaded 32 bit iso files, and some of them are particularly suitable for old 32 bit computers, because they have light desktop environments,

• Lubuntu
• Ubuntu Budgie
• Ubuntu MATE
• Xubuntu

You can find them via the following link. Look for 'i386' in the name of the iso file.

releases.ubuntu.com/

You can use the Ubuntu mini.iso files in order to install Ubuntu in BIOS mode (but not in UEFI mode), and there is a 32-bit version with 'i386' in the name of the mini.iso file. See this link,

cdimages.ubuntu.com/netboot

So it is possible to install standard Ubuntu in a 32-bit computer, but in most cases it is better to use a community flavour of Ubuntu with a lighter desktop environment, because standard Ubuntu 'wants' more powerful hardware for graphics that what is common in most 32-bit computers.

However, there may be cases, when you want to run a 32-bit operating system in a 64-bit computer, for example if you have some application software, that only works with a 32-bit system, or because a 32-bit system uses less RAM for the same task compared to a 64-bit system.

Solution 2:

Wow. A lot of misinformation here.

Ubuntu can still be run on 32-bit PCs and Ubuntu still provide 32-bit installers. All Ubuntu have stopped doing is producing 32-bit Live installer images. The other type of installer image - the network installer - is still available in both 64-bit and 32-bit (along with other architectures like arm64 and armhf which were never available as Live installers).

Network installer images can be found on the alternative downloads page.

The network installer images don't boot to a live Ubuntu desktop instance, just to a basic installer that you can use to install Ubuntu onto your machine. If you've ever installed Debian, it's a bit like their installer. They are small images because they fetch almost all packages from the internet during installation (this is why they are called a network installer). This means that the installer can't be used without an internet connection. That said, this is a perfectly convenient way of installing Ubuntu these days, since most people have a permanent internet connection and the installer is light weight and has no frills.

Note that if you have a 64-bit capable machine, and you are not severely limited in physical RAM (ie, you have at least half a gigabyte) there is no good reason not to run 64-bit Ubuntu on it.