NetBSD-Users archive

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Old Index]

Re: Does my processor support 64bit kernel?



The easiest and most reliable thing to is to get an amd64 install image
and to boot the CD and see if it runs.  But if EM64T isn't set it almost
certainly won't work.

  2. Which sets shall I use for an Intel 64 bit processor - amd64? A bit
  worried since wikipedia page below says there are differences between
  amd64 and intel 64
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_64#Intel_64

the following is fuzzy but should give you the right impression:

1. Intel produced "IA64" which is a 64-bit processor that is significantly
different from i386.  It was going to be the new thing, but has pretty
much faded into obscurity.  I have never actually seen one, nor have I
logged into a machine running one.

2. AMD produced a 64-bit processor called "x86_64" or "amd64" (variously,
by the different OS/distributions), which is more like an i386 with
longer addresses and more registers.  Later, Intel processors supported
the AMD instruction set.  cpuctl identify will show this as EM64T.

NetBSD calls this "amd64".   gcc calls it "x86_64".   There is perhaps a
nit that x86_64 refers to the CPU itself and amd64 to the machine
architecture, but because there aren't really systems with the cpu with
radically different architectures that's kind of academic.

Attachment: pgpGluZj4o7nF.pgp
Description: PGP signature



Home | Main Index | Thread Index | Old Index