It's a shame. There are still a lot of us that have perfectly good 32-bit 'puters that have been kept out of the landfills for years with lightweight Ubuntu-based distros.
There will still be plenty of 32bit distro OS options available. I'm just not sure how many of them are 'new to Linux' user friendly. But this day was coming, it was just a question of when

Jerry,
as I am a complete layman in these things, what would be the challenge to convert LL to a debian 32 bit base.. ? or have a "sister" version,
I find it annoying that users are being dictated to by Ubuntu - effectively the same problem again - big OS control .
A search of the LL current database this morning showed that roughly 50 % of entries were running the 32 bit Kernel!!
(09-28-2017, 07:48 AM)newtusmaximus link Wrote: [ -> ]Jerry,
as I am a complete layman in these things, what would be the challenge to convert LL to a debian 32 bit base.. ? or have a "sister" version,
I find it annoying that users are being dictated to by Ubuntu - effectively the same problem again - big OS control .
It would certainly be a lot of work initially. I don't want to have to make that decision unless I was forced to. I somewhat welcome having to only maintain one architecture. It will free up some time for other parts of the OS for me to work on. Remember, big changes never get 100% of the vote.
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Rumor has it that some of the Ubuntu "flavors" will still maintain 32-bit isos for a bit longer. I used to build my own mixture using Xubuntu-core and then adding on the apps and stuff I like. Perhaps Xubu-core will support 32-bit architecture beyond 17.10... if we're lucky
Not to muddy the waters on this subject, and though it is true that the 32bit convention has a projected absolute termination date, the last projected one I was aware of (MS, Solaris, etc.) was 2038. This end of all things 32bit is partially based on the projected amount of necessary data left to convert. At this point in time Windows still runs many many 32bit programs in a sub-system in its 64bit OS because the conversion work is far from done, and at the enterprise data level work is only partially begun. Linux has always been ahead of the curve in general, so it should be no surprise that the end of 32bit forever will come about a little quicker for Linux than for MS. It is unlikely that Debian will continue a stable 32bit image beyond Debian 10. Obviously, not unlike me, aging machines and systems will run until they drop, but nothing new will be built to accommodate the continuation of their usefulness, though some will be lovingly maintained by collectors and sold at auctions for fifty times their original worth. Entropy, inflation, and boredom make useless things rise in value. The thing is; unlike automobiles, old computers won't be collected for their speed. 32bit is over.
TC
Let's see what happens, June 2018 is still a long way off