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."
SparkyLinux 8.4 with the lightweight LXQt desktop – showing its frugal memory use
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.
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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.
SparkyLinux 8.4 in a 32-bit VM, running the classic CDE desktop – using the same kernel version as on 64-bit
To see how it looked, we chose CDE. A few minutes later, we rebooted and logged directly into the third-of-a-century-old environment. It works fine: we left the VirtualBox defaults on for a 32-bit VM – 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of disk – and the system fit comfortably, consuming 6.9 GB of storage and 259 MB of memory. There's no Snap or Flatpak support installed, but it does use systemd, just like Debian itself.
The 32-bit edition uses the same kernel version 6.12 as its 64-bit sibling, although the minimum spec has been increased a little: it now requires a 686-class CPU with PAE support. Mozilla ended mainstream 32-bit Linux builds after Firefox 144, with ESR 140 serving as the final supported branch. Sparky supplies its own 32-bit build of Firefox 140 ESR, which worked without complaint.
This could be a useful way to revive an old Atom-powered netbook or similar machine: 32-bit code generally has a smaller memory footprint than its 64-bit equivalent. It could also suit extremely small VMs, while remaining worth a look on more capable hardware. ®
