short answer to technical question?

[Jonathan Berry]

On 11/11/05, Gerhard Magnus <magnus at agora.rdrop.com> wrote:
> Hello All,
>
>         I don't know if there's a short answer to this... but what do "32 bit"
> and "64 bit" refer to and how can I tell which applies to my computer?
>
> Jerry

Hi Jerry,

When referring to hardware, 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the bit width
of the general purpose registers in the CPU of a computer.  When
referring to software, they refer to software that has been compiled
to run on a 32-bit or 64-bit processor.

If you do not know which applies to your computer, chances are 32-bit
does, as it is the most prevalent.  More and more computers coming out
are 64-bit capable, though, so this may become less true.  64-bit
would apply to your computer if you have a new AMD CPU (with the
exception of the original Sempron) or a new Intel CPU that supports
EM64T (Intel's name for their implementation of AMD64 or the x86_64
architecture).  Even with a 64-bit CPU, in the case of AMD64 or EM64T,
you can still choose to run a 32-bit operating system or software, so
that is where it can get the most confusing.  Look at /proc/cpuinfo
for detailed information on your CPU.  If you still cannot figure it
out, post the contents of that file here, and someone can probably
help you out.

Jonathan