User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Apple Products »

MacOS X Jaguar was 64-bit capable?


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
MacOS X Jaguar was 64-bit capable?
Thread Tools
BlueApple
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
 
2009-06-04, 08:53

I was watching the PowerMac G5 keynote on youtube, and noticed that it was first released in June 2003! That means, it must be using Jaguar, and since G5 is 64-bit, that means Jaguar must be 64-bit capable?
  quote
faramirtook
A for effort.
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New Jersey
 
2009-06-04, 10:06

Eh, not really. From how I understand it, it could run on a 64-bit processor, but not actually be using the capabilities of 64-bit computing.
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2009-06-04, 10:12

That depends on how you define "capable".

In a nutshell:
  • 10.3 has support for more than 4 GB of physical memory addressable by the OS (but not my individual processes)
  • 10.4 has support for 64-bit processing in non-GUI processes
  • 10.5 has support for 64-bit processing in Cocoa GUI applications

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
  quote
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2009-06-04, 10:17

Furthermore, I think it was only a late point release of 10.2 (10.2.7, and a separate G5 version at that) that added 64-bit compatibility.
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
Send a message via ICQ to chucker Send a message via AIM to chucker Send a message via MSN to chucker Send a message via Yahoo to chucker Send a message via Skype™ to chucker 
2009-06-04, 11:05

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
That depends on how you define "capable".

In a nutshell:
  • 10.3 has support for more than 4 GB of physical memory addressable by the OS (but not my individual processes)
  • 10.4 has support for 64-bit processing in non-GUI processes
  • 10.5 has support for 64-bit processing in Cocoa GUI applications
Two more:

10.2.7 (G5-only) had a 64-bit version of Accelerate.framework, i.e. for AltiVec (math and vector processing).
And 10.6 has a 64-bit kernel (alongside a 32-bit one), and therefore support for 64-bit kernel extensions.
  quote
BlueApple
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
 
2009-06-04, 14:16

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
Two more:

And 10.6 has a 64-bit kernel (alongside a 32-bit one), and therefore support for 64-bit kernel extensions.
10.6? I though 10.5 Leopard already has both 64-bit and 32-bit kernel. No?
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
Send a message via ICQ to chucker Send a message via AIM to chucker Send a message via MSN to chucker Send a message via Yahoo to chucker Send a message via Skype™ to chucker 
2009-06-04, 14:18

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueApple View Post
10.6? I though 10.5 Leopard already has both 64-bit and 32-bit kernel. No?
No, only everything above the kernel can be 64-bit in 10.5.
  quote
BlueApple
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
 
2009-06-05, 06:37

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
No, only everything above the kernel can be 64-bit in 10.5.
So in Leopard, there is only one Kernel, and it's 32-bit only?

I know for a fact that Leopard is capable of running X86_64 binary, since I've compiled one and run it. In Activity Monitor, it does show "Intel (64-bit)" instead of just "Intel".
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
Send a message via ICQ to chucker Send a message via AIM to chucker Send a message via MSN to chucker Send a message via Yahoo to chucker Send a message via Skype™ to chucker 
2009-06-05, 06:46

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueApple View Post
So in Leopard, there is only one Kernel, and it's 32-bit only?
That's correct.

Quote:
I know for a fact that Leopard is capable of running X86_64 binary, since I've compiled one and run it. In Activity Monitor, it does show "Intel (64-bit)" instead of just "Intel".
Yes. Like I said, everything above the kernel can run in 64-bit. Unlike with most operating systems, the kernel does not have to be 64-bit in order for the machine to run 64-bit programs.
  quote
BlueApple
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
 
2009-06-05, 09:14

Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker View Post
Yes. Like I said, everything above the kernel can run in 64-bit. Unlike with most operating systems, the kernel does not have to be 64-bit in order for the machine to run 64-bit programs.

So what is the benefit of having a 64-bit kernel? Or in other words, what are the limitations of running a 64-bit app in Leopard now?
  quote
Dave
Ninja Editor
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bay Area, CA
 
2009-06-05, 10:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueApple View Post
So what is the benefit of having a 64-bit kernel?
Your mouse driver can use more than 4GB of RAM?

Seriously, IDK. Seems to me like the kernel should be able to be 16-bit without any issues other than a 2^16 limit on the # of threads, but I'm not an OS engineer.
  quote
BlueApple
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
 
2009-06-05, 11:58

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave View Post
Your mouse driver can use more than 4GB of RAM?
Okay that makes sense. So currently 10.3-10.5, each process can't access exceed 4GB RAM.

I read a blog from adobe engineer a while ago about why CS4 won't be 64-bit. He said Apple didn't port the Carbon to 64-bit, only Cocoa is ported to 64-bit, so they couldn't support 64-bit for the CS4.

Now, if that is the case, even Carbon was ported to 64-bit, CS4 still shouldn't be able to access more than 64-bit, no?

I'm confused...
  quote
Dave
Ninja Editor
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bay Area, CA
 
2009-06-05, 12:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueApple View Post
Okay that makes sense. So currently 10.3-10.5, each process can't access exceed 4GB RAM.
The 32-bit processes cannot, but 64-bit processes can. The kernel's bit-depth doesn't have to equal a process's bit-depth. (At least that's true on OS X 10.5, IDK about other versions or other OSs.)
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
MacBook - Capable of true 1080P HD? solstace Apple Products 6 2008-08-26 08:39
Is iPhone already capable of 3G? bmdbaseball Speculation and Rumors 17 2007-07-02 07:36
Good player capable of handling .mkv that's not vlc? Sargasm Third-Party Products 3 2007-01-13 15:25
Song from a Jaguar Promo T-Man General Discussion 5 2006-06-26 12:43
Jaguar to Tiger bentley Genius Bar 13 2005-11-11 00:46


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:17.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova