Hardware Question

[Donald D Henson]

Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Jul 2007, Nils Kassube wrote:
>
>   
>> Donald D Henson wrote:
>>     
>>> 1. Does i686 always mean that the referenced processor/machine/platform
>>> is 64-bit?
>>>       
>> No, it is 32 bit. The CPUs which are referred to by "i686" are usually 32
>> bit CPUs. See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I686>.
>>
>>     
>>> 2. Does i386 always mean 32-bit?
>>>       
>> Yes.
>>
>>     
>>> 3. If the 'uname' command reports that the machine/processor is i686
>>> and that the platform is i386, does this mean that I am restricted to
>>> 32-bit software?
>>>       
>> Yes and no. If your CPU understands 64 bit instructions, they should work,
>> but what you get as 64 bit software probably needs the libraries compiled
>> for 64 bit Linux. If you want to have 64 bit Ubuntu, you need the AMD64
>> version.
>>     
>
> One way to check your processor's 32 vs 64-bit capability:
>
> - Try to boot or install a 64-bit version of an OS.  If the OS sees a 
> 32-bit processor, it will complain and instruct you to install the 32-bit 
> version.
>
> Scott
>   
Kind of the sink or swim technique, eh? Actually, that's my strategy.
But as I was working on my upgrade plan, I realized that I have no idea
which processors are 32-bit and which are 64-bit. After the upgrade, I
guess I'll know. Thanks, everybody.

Don Henson
>   
>> Nils
>>
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>>
>>     
>
>   

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