On Friday 22 December 2006 15:20, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net> wrote 
about '[gentoo-amd64]  Re: Emerging package as both 64 and 32 bit':
> "Boyd Stephen Smith Jr." <bss03@volumehost.net> posted
> 200612220854.59448.bss03@volumehost.net, excerpted below, on  Fri, 22
> Dec
>
> 2006 08:54:59 -0600:
> > Also, it's technically possible for the bootloader to switch into
> > extended mode before loading the kernel, but not done (in GRUB, at
> > least) for solid technical reasons.  (IIRC, there's some memory
> > mappings that have to be set up before entering extended mode.)
>
> That's something I've actually always wondered, so it's interesting to
> see a bit on it.  Is there anything not /too/ technical* but somewhat
> more detailed you could point me to?

I don't have anything bookmarked, but I'll look around after I get back 
from work and see if I can dig up any more references.

-- 
"If there's one thing we've established over the years,
it's that the vast majority of our users don't have the slightest
clue what's best for them in terms of package stability."
-- Gentoo Developer Ciaran McCreesh