From an email I received today:

===
FreeBSD is deprecating 32-bit platforms over the next couple of major
releases. We anticipate FreeBSD 15.0 will not include the armv6,
i386, and powerpc platforms, and FreeBSD 16.0 will not include armv7.
Support for executing 32-bit binaries on 64-bit kernels will be
retained through at least the lifetime of the stable/16 branch if not
longer. (There is currently no plan to remove support for 32-bit
binaries on 64-bit kernels.)

More background:

Since its inception, FreeBSD has aimed to provide a stable and
performant general-purpose BSD-based operating system for modern and widely-available systems. Initially this took the form of focusing on
the i386 architecture. Over time FreeBSD has added and removed
support for various architectures based on changes in the marketplace
(in some cases, anticipated changes in the marketplace).

The decision to remove support for an architecture in particular
depends on a couple of factors including both the future viability and availability of systems using that architecture as well as the
developer resources available in the project to continue maintaining
support. In addition, some changes and features may require explicit
support on each architecture. Architectures that are less
well-maintained can degrade into a tax on such changes delaying their implementation on architectures with stronger support.

Looking forward, general purpose 32-bit platforms are in a state of
decline in the marketplace (some more quickly than others), and we
have a shrinking pool of developers dedicated to supporting them. Of
our existing 32-bit platforms today (i386, armv[67], powerpc), only
armv7 continues to be used in recent system designs. We feel that
FreeBSD will be better served by narrowing the focus of our developer
resources on 64-bit systems moving forward. This includes both
deprecating existing 32-bit platforms and not adding new 32-bit
platforms (e.g., FreeBSD does not plan to add a 32-bit RISC-V
architecture). Support for individual 32-bit platforms may be
extended if there is both demand and commitment to increased developer resources.

More details on the current plans for the future of 32-bit platforms
can be found in the "General Notes Regarding Future FreeBSD Releases"
section of the 14.0 release notes at https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/relnotes/

On behalf of the FreeBSD Core Team,

--
John Baldwin
===

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Re: FreeBSD dropping 32-bit versions
By: Digimaus to All on Mon Feb 12 2024 04:44 pm

From an email I received today:

Rumors about this have been going around for a while already. Everybody wants to drop old archs these days.

Linux dropped Itanium despite the fact they have both users and developers maintaining the architecture for those users. Backslash has been enough that they are considering bringing the architecture back in.

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Digimaus wrote to All <=-

FreeBSD is deprecating 32-bit platforms over the next couple of major releases. We anticipate FreeBSD 15.0 will not include the armv6,
i386, and powerpc platforms, and FreeBSD 16.0 will not include armv7.

I have an old tiny PC I've wanted to put into my homelab, it's the size
of a desktop switch with wireless, 3 GB of RAM, a SATA drive bay and a
32 GB celeron CPU. I know some desktop linuxes still support 32-bit
Linux, wonder what the options are going to be.


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On 13 Feb 24 06:38:00, Kurt Weiske said the following to Digimaus:

I have an old tiny PC I've wanted to put into my homelab, it's the size
of a desktop switch with wireless, 3 GB of RAM, a SATA drive bay and a
32 GB celeron CPU. I know some desktop linuxes still support 32-bit
Linux, wonder what the options are going to be.

There is a Mini-PC on Amazon with dual LAN that makes a *perfect* Pfsense box.

Sold one to a customer, got rid of an old Sonicwall and the usual ISP-issued wifi Fiber gateway. The Internet in that business is now rock solid.

Nick

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Nick Andre wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

Sold one to a customer, got rid of an old Sonicwall and the usual ISP-issued wifi Fiber gateway. The Internet in that business is now
rock solid.

I went from appliance routers running OEM software, to DD-WRT and now to OpenWRT. It seems to do most of what I need, but I do like the notion of running a small low-power PC with pfSense; I ran it for some time at a
company of 35 people and loved it.



... Adding on
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On 17 Feb 24 08:42:00, Kurt Weiske said the following to Nick Andre:

I went from appliance routers running OEM software, to DD-WRT and now to OpenWRT. It seems to do most of what I need, but I do like the notion of running a small low-power PC with pfSense; I ran it for some time at a company of 35 people and loved it.

I have two Asus GT-AC5300's, maybe I'll see if they can run Wrt..

Nick

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Nick Andre wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

On 17 Feb 24 08:42:00, Kurt Weiske said the following to Nick
Andre:

I went from appliance routers running OEM software, to DD-WRT and now to OpenWRT. It seems to do most of what I need, but I do like the notion of running a small low-power PC with pfSense; I ran it for some time at a company of 35 people and loved it.

I have two Asus GT-AC5300's, maybe I'll see if they can run Wrt..

https://dd-wrt.com/support/router-database/



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Sold one to a customer, got rid of an old Sonicwall and the usual ISP-issued wifi Fiber gateway. The Internet in that business is now
rock solid.

I went from appliance routers running OEM software, to DD-WRT and now to OpenWRT. It seems to do most of what I need, but I do like the notion of running a small low-power PC with pfSense; I ran it for some time at a company of 35 people and loved it.

Is there a benefit of running OpenWRT vs. the OEM installed software?

I am guessing one answer is that it is still being maintained vs. the OEM software, but are there other benefits?

Thanks!
Mike


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Mike Powell wrote to KURT WEISKE <=-

Sold one to a customer, got rid of an old Sonicwall and the usual ISP-issued wifi Fiber gateway. The Internet in that business is now rock solid.

I went from appliance routers running OEM software, to DD-WRT and now to OpenWRT. It seems to do most of what I need, but I do like the notion of running a small low-power PC with pfSense; I ran it for some time at a company of 35 people and loved it.

Is there a benefit of running OpenWRT vs. the OEM installed
software?

Much more configurable.

I am guessing one answer is that it is still being maintained vs.
the OEM software, but are there other benefits?

That too.


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Re: Re: FreeBSD dropping 32-b
By: Mike Powell to KURT WEISKE on Sun Feb 18 2024 10:58 am

Is there a benefit of running OpenWRT vs. the OEM installed software?

I am guessing one answer is that it is still being maintained vs. the OEM software, but are there other benefits?

It depends on what you do with your router.

If you do complex stuff with your router - proper DMZs, loggin, advanced firewalling, mirroring traffic - then a custom firmware blows OEM firmware out of the water unless the OEM firmware is professional grade (ie. you got some gear made for ISPs or the like).

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Mike Powell wrote to KURT WEISKE <=-

Is there a benefit of running OpenWRT vs. the OEM installed software?

OpenWRT is an open, embedded Linux system with a package management
system and the ability to add whatever features you need. It uses the
standard linux firewall tools, giving much more control over access
rules than OEM firmware. And, it has a GUI making administration
simple.

If the GUI fails you, you can SSH in and change configs from a command
line, just like any other linux system.



... "The swift blade penetrates the salad."
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Arelor wrote to Mike Powell <=-

If you do complex stuff with your router - proper DMZs, loggin,
advanced firewalling, mirroring traffic - then a custom firmware blows
OEM firmware out of the water unless the OEM firmware is professional grade (ie. you got some gear made for ISPs or the like).

My first intro to 3rd party firmware was when I needed more port
forwarding entries than old Linksys firmware provided. Now, I'm looking
at setting up a VLAN for my homelab, running a VPN server for access to
my network from the road, and traffic logging so I can monitor how much bandwidth I'm using each month.



... The answers will be found in the logs.
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Re: Re: FreeBSD dropping 32-b
By: Kurt Weiske to Arelor on Tue Feb 20 2024 06:53 am

My first intro to 3rd party firmware was when I needed more port
forwarding entries than old Linksys firmware provided. Now, I'm looking
at setting up a VLAN for my homelab, running a VPN server for access to
my network from the road, and traffic logging so I can monitor how much bandwidth I'm using each month.

How many nerds here have bought old Linksys gear just because slapping OpenWRT on them was easy? :-P

I am partial for Mikrotik equipment, though. The less expensive tiers come with firmware that is nearly enterprise grade. They have hardware offloading and you can delegate lots of routing functions to the dedicated chips. Of course they can do the regular VPNing, VLANing, logging and firewalling.

I have my IP blacklists and bruteforce protection integrated with my Mikrotik routers. Do you know how people installs fail2ban on a server in order to prevent bruteforcing against common services? I have a hack running on the router itself in close collaboration with a log server.

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Arelor wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

How many nerds here have bought old Linksys gear just because slapping OpenWRT on them was easy? :-P

I still have an early WRT54G, just because. I'm planning on mounting a
Raspberri Pi in it.

I have my IP blacklists and bruteforce protection integrated with my Mikrotik routers. Do you know how people installs fail2ban on a server
in order to prevent bruteforcing against common services? I have a hack running on the router itself in close collaboration with a log server.

I should check if fail2ban is a package on OpenWRT. I'd guess it is,
based on the other security packages I've seen.




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Re: Re: FreeBSD dropping 32-b
By: Kurt Weiske to Arelor on Wed Feb 21 2024 06:58 am

I still have an early WRT54G, just because. I'm planning on mounting a
Raspberri Pi in it.

What a coincidence. The WRT54GL was my first router ever. I only replaced it once it got toast after sooo many hours of use. I replaced it with a Mikrotik because of a recommendation from an IRC friend. It is the best purchase I have made (excluding the ones who go "neigh").

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Kurt Weiske wrote to Arelor <=-

How many nerds here have bought old Linksys gear just because slapping OpenWRT on them was easy? :-P

I still have an early WRT54G, just because. I'm planning on mounting a
Raspberri Pi in it.

I bought the WRT 1900ACS one. It worked great, I still have it but no
longer do anything that requires anything other then the device the cable company provides.

Shawn

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Tiny wrote to Kurt Weiske <=-

I bought the WRT 1900ACS one. It worked great, I still have it but no longer do anything that requires anything other then the device the
cable company provides.

Linksys has a referrer program several years back where they'd send
devices out for evaluation, and you had to write a couple of reviews
online - including a disclaimer that the devices were provided for free.

I got a WRT1900ACS and another, less hackable router which run my
network to this day.



... Remove ambiguities and convert to specifics
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