shifts Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 Apple's OS X 10.6 operating system Snow Leopard, released today, by default loads with a 32-bit kernel, despite running 64-bit applications.While it ships with a number of 64-bit native applications, Apple's kernel itself defaults to 32-bit, unless the user holds down the "6" and "4" keys during boot time, at which point the 64-bit kernel is loaded. Only Apple's X-Serve products, using Snow Leopard Server, boot into a 64-bit kernel by default. from http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-336194.html Is this a common knowledge thing that I simply missed out as Sno Leo was marketed at 64 bit or is there an explanation in nice simples language that ill understand lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted August 29, 2009 Share Posted August 29, 2009 from http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-336194.htmlIs this a common knowledge thing that I simply missed out as Sno Leo was marketed at 64 bit or is there an explanation in nice simples language that ill understand lol Check the snow leopard discussion thread. There is a lot of misunderstanding about what having a 32-bit kernel vs a 64-bit kernel means. The discussion in there clears it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perochan Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Check the snow leopard discussion thread.There is a lot of misunderstanding about what having a 32-bit kernel vs a 64-bit kernel means. The discussion in there clears it up. no... snow leopard discussion thread is 100+ pages long... it is so much easier to answer one small question than looking thr 100+ pages for an answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted August 31, 2009 Veteran Share Posted August 31, 2009 You don't have to sift through pages and pages of posts so I'll save you time. It isn't common knowledge; however, that doesn't mean Snow Leopard isn't a 64-bit OS. This article explains it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cldmani Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Seeing as this thread relates to my question also, do you have to hold down "6" & "4" each time you boot up mac or will it boot up in 64bit after you do it the first time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 Seeing as this thread relates to my question also, do you have to hold down "6" & "4" each time you boot up mac or will it boot up in 64bit after you do it the first time? I believe there is a command you have to run in Terminal to make startup default to 64-bit. I don't know it off the top of my head, but it should be in the last 10 pages of the other thread. Otherwise a quick google search will find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritas310 Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I was the poster with that info from the last thread, let me save you some time (copy and pasted post): I just rebooted in 64-bit mode (thinking it would do it automatically) and things are running much quicker. I'll keep testing. Here is the command to make sure it always boots in 64-bit mode (warning: check the compatible Mac list to make sure your chipset supports 64-bit): To select the 64-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal: sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture x86_64 Good luck! *Few software incompatibilities but nothing too bad yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cldmani Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I was the poster with that info from the last thread, let me save you some time (copy and pasted post):I just rebooted in 64-bit mode (thinking it would do it automatically) and things are running much quicker. I'll keep testing. Here is the command to make sure it always boots in 64-bit mode (warning: check the compatible Mac list to make sure your chipset supports 64-bit): To select the 64-bit kernel for the current startup disk, use the following command in Terminal: sudo systemsetup -setkernelbootarchitecture x86_64 Good luck! *Few software incompatibilities but nothing too bad yet. Alrighty bro. Appreciate taking the time to find the exact post you wrote in the other thread. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted August 31, 2009 Veteran Share Posted August 31, 2009 Seeing as this thread relates to my question also, do you have to hold down "6" & "4" each time you boot up mac or will it boot up in 64bit after you do it the first time? You'll have to hold "6" and "4" to load the 64-bit kernel and kexts every time. Keep in mind, Snow Leopard defaults to the 32-bit kernel for a reason. Not all Macs have the 32-bit EFI despite having a 64-bit CPU. Run this command in Terminal to check which EFI you have: ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cldmani Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 You'll have to hold "6" and "4" to load the 64-bit kernel and kexts every time. Keep in mind, Snow Leopard defaults to the 32-bit kernel for a reason. Not all Macs have the 32-bit EFI despite having a 64-bit CPU.Run this command in Terminal to check which EFI you have: ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi okie will do. Thanks for the info/tip. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perochan Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 (edited) You'll have to hold "6" and "4" to load the 64-bit kernel and kexts every time. Keep in mind, Snow Leopard defaults to the 32-bit kernel for a reason. Not all Macs have the 32-bit EFI despite having a 64-bit CPU.Run this command in Terminal to check which EFI you have: ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi i typed ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi in the terminal and shown "EFI64." so that means i have 64 bit CPU? i holded 6 and 4 keys when booting and how would I know if im running 64 bit or still 32 bit? EDIT: nvm. found it in system profile section under softward. Edited August 31, 2009 by perochan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yusuf M. Veteran Posted August 31, 2009 Veteran Share Posted August 31, 2009 okie will do. Thanks for the info/tip. =) You're welcome. Just to add on to my earlier post, loading the 64-bit kernel isn't required. Just about any 64-bit application will work under the 32-bit kernel. i typed ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi in the terminal and shown "EFI64." so that means i have 64 bit CPU? i holded 6 and 4 keys when booting and how would I know if im running 64 bit or still 32 bit? EDIT: nvm. found it in system profile section under softward. "EFI64" means you have a 64-bit EFI. From what I know, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a 64-bit CPU. It does, however, increase the likelihood of you having a 'modern' 64-bit CPU. In any case, the 32-bit kernel is more than capable of addressing >4GB RAM. Loading the 64-bit kernel is unnecessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TruckWEB Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 i typed ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi in the terminal and shown "EFI64." so that means i have 64 bit CPU? i holded 6 and 4 keys when booting and how would I know if im running 64 bit or still 32 bit? EDIT: nvm. found it in system profile section under softward. Well, even holding 6 and 4 at boot, going into System Profiler under software, I still see 64-bit Kernel and Extensions at NO. So, my 64 bit C2D and 64 bit EFI is not enough in my white Macbook to load a 64 bit kernel. EVEN if I don't really need it, it would have been cool to try it. And I still believe that it's a fake limitation on Apple part to make people upgrade somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shifts Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I admit that I did start looking through the thread mentioned to my reply at the top but didnt get to near the end where the discussion started so I started this one. I've an old macbook white that i'll try the "6" and "4" laters on and see what the deal is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I admit that I did start looking through the thread mentioned to my reply at the top but didnt get to near the end where the discussion started so I started this one.I've an old macbook white that i'll try the "6" and "4" laters on and see what the deal is. It won't work, 64-bit support is completely blocked on MacBooks and Mac Minis at this time, no matter if the hardware is capable or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 There is a EFI edit you can do, but i dont know how to edit the boot.efi file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Helix Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 There is a EFI edit you can do, but i dont know how to edit the boot.efi file. With some sort of reshacker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 With some sort of reshacker Yes, I just don't know of any for OS X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 (edited) Yes, I just don't know of any for OS X. Mac OS X ships with several, I like to use Emacs. I'll post a video in a few minutes. EDIT: Video Here EDIT 2: that's a bit hard to read -- I'll make another with a better font-size. If this all blows up on you and you end up with an unbootable system you can restore by booting form your OS X 10.6 install CD and then from utilities launching Terminal (substituting 'yourharddrivenamehere' with the name of your boot disk). bless --folder /Volumes/yourharddrivenamehere/System/Library/CoreServices --file /Volumes/yourharddrivenamehere/System/Library/CoreService/boot.efi Then restart. Edited September 4, 2009 by evn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Bigger video Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 Awesome thanks for the vids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shifts Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 It won't work, 64-bit support is completely blocked on MacBooks and Mac Minis at this time, no matter if the hardware is capable or not. oooo cheers didn't know that. TY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted September 4, 2009 Share Posted September 4, 2009 (edited) The fix worked, I now have 64bit on my non-pro! Edited September 4, 2009 by Windows .net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoL Veteran Posted September 5, 2009 Veteran Share Posted September 5, 2009 I tried this and worked, feels a little faster but Microsoft doesn't have 64but drivers for their mice. :crazy: :crazy: I guess I have to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyn Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 It won't work, 64-bit support is completely blocked on MacBooks and Mac Minis at this time, no matter if the hardware is capable or not. This is not true, you left out the word "kernel" between "bit" and "support". Leopard was able to run 64 bit software on a 32 bit system and so is Snow Leopard. The only difference is that Snow Leopard has more support for it since a lot of the built-in software is now 64 bit and it has the ability to boot the 64 bit kernel (which has absolutely no advantage over the default 32 bit kernel for 99% of the Mac users due to hardware limitations apart from it being overkill). The only thing required to run 64 bit software is a 64 bit capable Mac, every Core 2 Duo Mac (and the Xeon equivalent) would meet that requirement. The early Intel Macs in 2006 had the 32 bit Core Duo and therefore do not have the ability to run 64 bit software. There is absolutely no need for the 64 bit kernel, with the 32 bit kernel all of the 64 bit software will run just fine so there is absolutely no blockage! If you do want to run the (quite useless) 64 bit kernel you need to have a supported Mac. At this moment MacBooks and Mac mini's are unsupported, you need to have something like a Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook Pro or the Xserve (which is the only one using the 64 bit kernel by default because it's the only machine that will actually benefit from it). Why would one run the 64 bit kernel? Well, just because you can :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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