Cygwin 3.6 x86/32bit builds for Windows 10/ARM64 x86 emulation?

[Brian Inglis]

On 2024-10-04 09:04, Cedric Blancher via Cygwin wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Oct 2024 at 19:11, Brian Inglis via Cygwin <cygwin@cygwin.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 2024-10-01 05:25, Mark Liam Brown via Cygwin wrote:
>>> On Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 7:20 PM Jeremy Drake <cygwin@jdrake.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, 28 Sep 2024, Mark Liam Brown via Cygwin wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 12:49 PM Mark Liam Brown
>>>>> <brownmarkliam@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Greetings!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Are there Cygwin 3.6 x86/32bit builds?
>>>>>> We're on Windows 10/ARM64, and as Cygwin does not support ARM64 yet
>>>>>> the only other option is to use the x86 (32bit) emulation to run
>>>>>> Cygwin 3.6 32bit. Windows 11 also has x86-64 emulation, but we are
>>>>>> stuck with Windows 10.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyone? We've hit the problem again that we would need Cygwin 3.5
>>>>> 32bit, as Cygwin 3.3 is bit outdated.
>>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>> There can be no such build, support code for 32bit was ripped out before
>>>> Cygwin 3.4 was released.
>>>
>>> WHY?! WHY?! ;-(((((((((((
>>> You know how many Windows 32bit machines are out there?
>>
>> As far as anyone can tell externally << 1%.
> 
> I'd wholeheartedly object to that statistics.
> In Paris alone we have the Programming Education CD in almost every
> school, which is for the Windows 8+Windows 10 32bit machines to
> install a Cygwin-based app to teach pupils programming in Pascal and
> C.
> That are around 11000 installations alone, and scaled up to France a lot more.
> Last edition was made in 2022, with 14000 CDs (one CD --> multiple
> installations) shipped until mid-2024.
> 
> Bummer is, most of these school PCs are 32bit only, and they are not
> being replaced before 2028-2032, but the programming environment needs
> to be updated or replaced before 2025.
> 
> So YES, there is a market for 32bit Cygwin!!

French annual PC market sales are ~US$5G ~5M units, with ~5 year lifetime, 
market ~25M units; so ~140k < 1%; Win 8 is no longer supported, and only 
security updates are available for Win10; Win10 and 32bit support ends next year 
2025-10-14; with another 25% of PCs replaced, Win 11 (64 bit only) may only be 
up to ~50%, so extended security support may be available for some Win 10 
editions for the price of a new OEM licence.
Notably 32 bit systems, software, and drivers are no longer being released, 
updated, or likely supported, as devices are normally out of warranty within 5 
years.

You could try to raise grants and a budget to cover staff time, assemble a team 
from large education IT groups, and backport fixes and builds to Cygwin 32, to 
keep your dying machines usable.

Or do as Cygwin does, with national staff, in your own free time as volunteers! 
;^>

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer     but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry