Re: [gentoo-amd64] Can I run a 32-bit kernel on my 64-bit kernel Gentoo machine?

["John C. Shimek" <jcshimek@mn.rr.com>]

You do a straight 32bit install on your amd64.  The amd64 is 32bit 
capable.  I don't know whether to call your precessor an athlon or maybe 
a generic x86 processor.  It is the same as running Windows 2000/XP on 
this processor.  The OS thinks it has a 32bit CPU. Only you are limited 
to 32bit limitation on hardware, mainly memory and possibly harddrive, I 
don't know. 

Also, have you only tried the ~amd64 kernels?  Stick with the non "~" 
software for a stable/production machine unless you absulutely need a 
newer version in that is marked "~".  The "~" before the amd64 or x86 or 
any other platform means this version has not been completely tested and 
thus is unstable.  Many times, it is stable just needs to be verified.  
Other times, especially when dealing with hardware or assembly 
programming or sloppy programming, it isn't stable.  If you are running 
~amd64, I would suggest backing off to the stable amd64 and rebuild with 
that.  It will give you slightly older version but more tested 
versions.  I am sure others can point in the correct direction for 
rebuild your system if needed, let more experieced wiser minds help 
where they can.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes one way or the other,
JCS

Mark Knecht wrote:

>Hi,
>   I'm very unclear about this idea. I've built my new AMD64 machine
>using the Gentoo 64-bit setup. The kernel I emerge uses the ~amd64 to
>I think I get a full 64-bit kernel. (Please excuse me on this issue.
>I'm a bit of a "follow instructions, not necessarily understand the
>whole thing" kind of guy on this one, and I definitely feel like I
>don't get what's up with 64-bit operation so far...) As far as I know
>everything on my machine is supposed to run in 64-bit mode, as far as
>I know.
>
>   Anyway, this machine is an AMD64 using a NForce4 motherboard. At
>this point, running a kernel with the processor being an AMD64
>processor, I'm unable to run the machine with no xruns using Jack. Any
>disk activity seems to be the main cause of xruns on this machine.
>I've tried the AMD64 64-bit Gentoo kernel as well as ck-sources.
>Neither has worked well at all for me. I continue to get xruns and
>haven't been able to figure out how to configure the machine to work
>well. Bummer.
>
>   Since I've had great results on all of my older 32-bit machines in
>the past using gentoo-sources with no modifications I'd like to try
>running that on this machine to see if the xruns are a platform issue,
>such as the chipset, etc.) or whether they are cuased by operating in
>64-bit mode. However, I am completely unable to figure out for myself
>if I can run a 32-bit kernel when everything else - glibc, xrog-x11,
>qt, gnome, apps, etc., have been compiled as 64-bit capable. Is this
>allowed, or will the machine not work running a 32-bit kernel at this
>point?
>
>   Sorry if this question sounds brain dead but I'm not a CS/IT
>person. I'm a hardware guy and in my world 64-bit is real different
>than 32-bit. If I build a kernel for a Athlon will it work with all
>the existing libraries that work with 64-bit?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Mark
>
>  
>

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