[rescue] Re: IRIX 5.3 32bits or 64?

[Gavin Hubbard]

<<
> (Some hardware that supports full 64bits.  Remember that every SGI past
> the indigo supported full 64bit, to include indy i2 o2 etc)

Not quite.  The R4000 and later CPUs support 64 bit operation, but the
Indy, O2, and IP22 Indigo2 are 32-bit machines.  To verify this, type
"uname".  32-bit machines return "IRIX" and 64-bit machines return
"IRIX64".  32-bit machines are unable to boot a 64-bit kernel or run
64-bit binaries, though they do gain a modicum of 64-bitness via the N32
ABI.
>>

Yes, I found this out last night when I installed a new disk into my recently arrived R10k powered O2 (IP32). I'd just assumed that R10k = 64-bit goodness, so I was surprised to find that I _had_ to boot using the 32 bit miniroot in order to access the low level format program (I've reused a spare 9GB Sun disk). It is definitely a 32-bit system.

Regards,

Gavin