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The preinstalled OS is not even using 64-bit modeThe preinstalled OS is not even using 64-bit modePosted Feb 21, 2007 18:32 UTC (Wed) by RareCactus (guest, #41198)In reply to: The preinstalled OS is not even using 64-bit mode by rafdz Parent article: Dell users demand more Linux options (ZDNet UK)
Hardware is a moving target.
No doubt in a few years, 64-bit pointers will be the norm, and 32-bit pointers will be supported the same way real-mode applications are in Windows-- poorly, and slowly through emulation.
Using 16-bit pointers (which is only possible in real mode) is already a huge performance hit. The chip designers support it, but they don't care how fast it is, because most people only ever are in this mode when they're looking at the BIOS.
I don't understand what you're talking about with 8-bit pointers, since the x86 has never had those.
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