On Fri, 30 Apr 2004, Ira Abramov wrote: > Someone just asked me and I didn't know what to tell him... > > an Opteron machine, how x86 is it? I understand it's supposed to be > fully backwards compatible. does it mean I can just take an x86 regular > 32 bit kernel and binaries and run on it? is 64bit an option or a must?
IA32-x86 is the same in Opetron as it used to be in regular IA32 machines. Actually, the new platform is called AMD64, and it is based on an extension of the current x86 commands set. The AMD64 core is based on x86's extension, called x86-64 (which Intel, rumors claim, reversed engineered in order to match their new processors with AMD's). This extension lets 32 bit programs run smoothly on the 64bit core, and actually can use more address space (AMD64 has 48 bits of virtual address space and 40 bits of physical address space, lying on a 64 bits wide key data and address paths). > how does it mix? can old 32bit binaries run under a 64bit kernel? IS Yes. The 64 bit extension does not effect the 32 bit binaries. The opposite is the truth - some benchmarks show that 32bit binaries run faster on them (I don't have a pointer, sorry). > there already a 64bit opteron kernel? Yes. There's even a distribution (Gentoo). Check this: http://gentoo.seren.com/gentoo/releases/amd64/2004.1/livecd/install-amd64-universal-2004.1.iso Just download, burn, boot, and follow the instructions. Regards, Adir. > > Thanks! > Ira. > ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
