• psud@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    8 days ago

    Do you have any 32 bit computers anymore? Any running important stuff that needs good dates?

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      8 days ago

      Lots of embedded systems and infrastructure. But yeah, nothing important like your porn watching device.

      • psud@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 days ago

        And as long as they get updated, it’ll be fine. Probably cheaper than Y2K. Note that medical and industrial control stuff generally doesn’t care about the date

    • USSMojave@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      8 days ago

      It’s not about having accurate dates, it’s about how unix time is used in programming. For some systems that reference unix time for essential calculations, that value rolling over and overflowing would cause catastrophic problems

      • psud@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 days ago

        Sure but that means a workaround for machines affected, but not needing correct dates could be to set their clocks to midnight Jan 1 1970 and have another 65 years to sort it out

        Anyway, the biggest problem will be embedded systems, including many household and business smart devices. Several I have are definitely 32 bit machines and might use 32 bit time precise to the second. Some I don’t know. I have no idea what processor my TV uses