SparkyLinux 8.4 rekindles support for 32-bit PCs

Almost exactly a year after SparkyLinux 8.0 abandoned installation images for 32-bit PCs, version 8.4 has brought them back.

The distro remains based on Debian 13 and retains the codename "the Seven Sisters." The Register first checked out SparkyLinux back in 2015, and this vulture took a look at version 7 a couple of years ago.

Beyond the changes inherited from the move from Debian 12 to Debian 13, this version isn't hugely different.

The project's own self-description covers the basics. (The project also offers release info in Polish, jeśli wolisz to.) It comes in both rolling-release and stable variants, and you get a choice of versions with different desktops: LXQt, MATE, Xfce, and KDE, plus a minimal command-line only edition, and a minimal GUI edition with Openbox.

All offer Sparky's improved package manager, called Aptus.

Sparky 8.4 isn't the first Debian-derivative we've seen that offers a 32-bit edition.

That distinction goes to Window Maker Live 13.2, and earlier this year, we also scoped out antiX 26, which offers several older kernel versions.

We tried the 64-bit LXQt flavor of SparkyLinux 8.4, and installation was a cinch with the cross-platform Calamares installer.

It ships with Linux kernel 6.12 by default.

For comparison, we tried the 32-bit edition, in its "minimal GUI" variant.

There is no graphical installer, so you must run a command-line one in a terminal.

It asks numerous questions about locales and keyboard layouts, but gets the job done.

At the end, it offered a comprehensive choice of desktop environments, including the original CDE – open sourced in 2012 – and its modern recreation, NsCDE.

We compared the two in 2022.