LO 4.1 upgrade from 4.0.4 - now does not find Java

users
#21

Paul wrote:

Technically, the x86 indicates the architecture, the 64 indicates the
instruction set width. So x86_64 is a 64 bit chip, and the x86_32 is a
32 bit chip.

I thought 32 bit CPUs were referred to as i586..

#22

Yes under a laymans's terminology, and Linux devs seem to still use i586 and i686 in labelling pices of software, to explain the chip the software code can run on. Intel dropped that chip naming convention after the last i486, due to some claimed patent issues of other competitors using similar naming conventions, which they tried to bring to court, but never succeeded.

The Pentium (part of the Greek word "pente" meaning 5, for Intel their 5th generation of processors) was going to be named the i586, but with the court failure mention above, Intel went to names such as Pentium, and the P5, P6 naming convention etc. In using the x86 (or loosely and incorrectly x32) or x64 (also really incorrect as AMD has claim to the first launched 64bit processors and systems, so is more correctly known as AMD64) refers to the bitness/bit width of the processing data path.

The latter I mentioned above is more applicable today to explain the difference between 32bit and 64bit now, due to the fact that we have both hardware and software running 64bit.

Regards

Andrew Brown

#23

Just to cover your question of the i586 (Pentium P5) being a 32bit, yes that is correct. To cover my statement of AMD being the first to market with 64bit, AMD launched the first 64bit processor onto the market with the Opteron in 2003 (PC and server based), Intel followed a year later with the PC based Pentium 4F and Pentum D, and in 2006 with the server Itanium with IA-64 code.

Regards

Andrew Brown

#24

Andrew Brown wrote:

AMD has claim to the first launched 64bit processors and systems

Actually, I believe both the PowerPC and DEC Alpha were earlier. AMD had the first that was compatible with the Intel x86 line.

#25

James Knott wrote:

Actually, I believe both the PowerPC and DEC Alpha were earlier.

I think the Intel Itanium also predated the AMD.

#26

Hi James

Correct in the mainframe / large server arena of the two systems you mentioned, but between AMD and Intel (desktop / local server) of which the majority of users know, AMD was the first, and the Itanium was factually only in 2004, as I stated with AMD in 2003. You can Google it for factualness, from AMD/Intel archives, techblogs, Wikipedia etc. Intel had the concept for 64bit, IA64, as far back as 1999, but did not get to market with it before AMD.

Regards

Andrew Brown

#27

To add, the PowerPC 64bit chip, PowerPC 970, was never adopted by Apple or other hardware designers using the PPC technology, and was only sampled by IBM in 2003, so AMD was ahead of this chip as well in an actual application and implementation of a 64bit chip. And to quote directly from IBM's tech site :-

"The PowerPC 970 is actually not the first 64-bit PowerPC architecture; Motorola announced the PowerPC 620 in 1998 as one of the first PowerPC implementations. However, the core required over four years to commercialize, and was an “instant flop”, Halfhill said."

Regards

Andrew Brown

#28

That may depend on your definition of a processor. I had a math chip
for my 386 a long time ago that was 80 bit internal floating point from
AMD.

#29

Hi Les

I think to clarify, I found a Wikipedia entry of the timeline of ALL known 64bit processors. As you go down the timeline, it starts at the year 1961 for supercomputer 64bit processors system, and 64bit was only ever available for mainframes and supercomputers.

But as you go down the timeline, and as I posted, the first successful 64bit processor to market was the AMD 64bit in 2003, and for the sake of no argument, the first in the x86 CISC (Complex Instruction Set) class of processors for desktops etc. Intel did not fair so well, and actually as stated in this timeline, cloned the AMD64 microcode and released their 64bit versions in 2004. The first Intel Itanium's failed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit_computing

Regards

Andrew Brown