[MinnowBoard] 64-bit vs 32-bit UEFI - What you need to know!

[selsinork at gmail.com]

On 12/09/14 18:10, "Thomas B. Rücker" wrote:
> You can run either a multi-arch distro or a 32-bit userland with a 64bit kernel.
> Unless you need to somehow plug some binary only 32bit kernel module in, there should be no reason for a 32bit kernel, from what I can tell.

config VM86
        bool "Enable VM86 support" if EXPERT
        default y
        *depends on X86_32*
        ---help---
          This option is required by programs like DOSEMU to run
          16-bit real mode legacy code on x86 processors. It also may
          be needed by software like XFree86 to initialize some video
          cards via BIOS. Disabling this option saves about 6K.

It had been a while since I'd looked, so wasn't sure if this was still the case after the X86 restructuring, but seems that it still requires a 32 bit kernel to work.

This isn't for any binary-only stuff or kernel modules, it's standard userspace code.  Sometimes there are alternatives, sometimes not. What it's referring to with the XFree86 comment is the need to run some code from rom on an add-in card. Legacy reasons mean this is typically 16bit code.  PC's have the advantage of being quite standardised and very backward compatible, but that does come with baggage like needing to be compatible with 1981.


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