Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 to drop support for 32-bit

[harlan4096]

Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 will not support 32-bit computers. That's not surprising.

Last week, I reported that Mozilla is ending support for Firefox on 32-bit Linux in 2026. In that article, I briefly explained how 32-bit distros are becoming rarer these days.

So why is Linux Mint Debian Edition ditching 32-bit? Well, it's very simple. LMDE is based on Debian. And Debian 13 dropped support for i386, aka 32-bit. It is now amd64, which is the 64-bit architecture. Naturally, since it is based on Debian's source code, LMDE has no choice but to follow suit, hence becoming a 64-bit distro.  You can still run 32-bit apps, but the distribution will not have 32-bit build ISOs. Debian 12 Bookworm Long Term Support (LTS) end on June 30, 2028. So it is likely that LMDE 6 will be supported until then. So, there is no need to panic just yet.

LMDE 7, which is codenamed Gigi, will be based on Debian 13 Trixie. The official announcement says that the upcoming iteration will include the improvements that were introduced in Linux Mint 22.2. Also, LMDE 7 will support OEM installations, which will allow manufacturers to pre-install the distro on their computers. The first beta of LMDE 7 will be released in September.

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