On 11/11/05, Gerhard Magnus <magnus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 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
