14 DAY TRIAL // Here we go! Ubuntu MATE project leader Martin Wimpress announced today that the upcoming Ubuntu MATE 18.10 release wouldn't be available as a 32-bit (i386) ISO image.
Following in the footsteps of Ubuntu, the Ubuntu MATE official flavor is dropping support for 32-bit installations with the 18.10 release, which is expected to hit the streets later this fall in October. Only a 64-bit ISO image will be released for Ubuntu MATE 18.10.
"Following the successful release of Ubuntu MATE 18.04 LTS last week the development cycle for 18.10 has now opened. We have taken the decision to stop making i386 (32-bit Intel) images starting with Ubuntu MATE 18.10," said project leader Martin Wimpress.
The decision to drop 32-bit ISO images was taken because less than 10% of Ubuntu MATE users are using the operating system on older, 32-bit machines, and many of those actually install the i386 variant of Ubuntu MATE on 64-bit (amd64) computers.
Existing 32-bit installations will still be supported
When Ubuntu decided to drop support for 32-bit installations, all of the official flavors, including Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, and Ubuntu MATE decided to still offer 32-bit ISOs, but it looks like that's going to change soon.
Ubuntu MATE is now the first to take a step towards dropping support for 32-bit installations by no longer offering 32-bit ISOs with the upcoming Ubuntu MATE 18.10, and we believe some other flavors will follow suit. Kubuntu probably?
Of course, there will still be some official Ubuntu flavors that will be supported on older 32-bit machines for a long time, including Xubuntu and Lubuntu, but the rest shouldn't actually. However, existing 32-bit installations will still be supported for some time.
In the case of Ubuntu MATE, the recently released Ubuntu MATE 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system will continue to receive 32-bit ISO images throughout its life cycle, which will conclude sometime around April 2021.
Martin Wimpress said that the Ubuntu MATE team will now concentrate their efforts on offering better support for ARM devices like the Raspberry Pi instead of building ISO images for older 32-bit machines that are becoming extinct soon. Check out the forum announcement for more details.