How to determine the bitness of a Linux system. Comprehensive information about the bitness of the operating system? Ubuntu how to find out the bitness of the system

Greetings Dear readers! Today you will learn all about system capacity... This will be another building block in your base of computer knowledge. Many are confused about the bitness of operating systems and do not even know how to determine it on their PC. We will help you understand what the bit depth of the system is, what bit depths are, what is the difference between them.

What is bit depth in general? In computer science bitness is the number of bits that can be simultaneously processed by this device (in our case, the OS). To date, there are only two bit operating systems. it 32-bit and 64-bit... This means that a 32-bit OS can process only 32 bits of information at a time. And, accordingly, a 64-bit system is twice as large, i.e. 64 bits of information. But this is not the only and not the most important difference between operating systems of different bit sizes.

Differences between x32 and x64 bit operating systems

• The main difference between a 32-bit system and a 64-bit system is that an x32-bit system works only with 3.5 GB random access memory. Even if the system has 8 GB of RAM, the x32 can only use about 3.5 GB of memory at the maximum. 64-bit system supports up to 128 GB RAM.
• A 64-bit system can work with 64-bit applications. With the same success, it launches and works with 32-bit applications.
• A 32-bit system cannot work with x64 applications.
• 64-bit systems have multi-core and multi-processor support
• 64-bit systems require installation of special x64 drivers to devices.
• the processor must have support for 64-bit systems.

Pros and cons of moving to a 64-bit system

There are more pluses and they are very convincing, as you will now see, but there are options in which it will be a winning choice. x32 systems.

pros

1. Support for large amounts of RAM (the bold plus)
2. Launching and working with both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
3. Noticeable performance gains on systems with multi-core processors.

Minuses

1. Problems with finding compatible drivers are possible (currently this risk has been practically reduced to zero)
2. The transition will not be justified if the system has 4 GB of RAM or less. The fact is that the 64-bit system itself and 64-bit programs consume more RAM than a 32-bit one. And the freed up, it would seem, 0.5 GB of RAM will go to it. In such a situation, it is better to stay on the x32 system.

How to find out the bitness of the system on a PC?

Of ways find out the bitness of the system installed on the computer a lot. For each OS, they are naturally radically different. We will find out the bit depth on Windows operating systems, and also, as a "bonus", on Linux OS. But first, let's figure out the designations of the system bit width, adopted in the it sphere.

Bit designations: x32, x64, x86.

As you probably guessed from the article, a 32-bit OS is denoted as x32 and a 64-bit OS like x64... But very often a 32-bit system is denoted as x86... On the Internet, some users understand x32 and x86 to be the same system. It is not right. x86 is the microprocessor architecture and hardware platform. It can be applied to both 32-bit and 64-bit programs.
The fact is that the name of the first processors Intel at the end it was always assigned 86 (for example, I8086 or 80386, etc.) Further, even when processors from Intel began to be called Pentium, the platform continued to be denoted that way. From there, this incorrect designation has survived to this day. The correct notation for 32-bit systems should be x86_32 and for 64-bit ones, respectively x86_64 or just x32 and x64.

Let's find out the bitness of the system on Windows.

On Windows of all versions, the bit depth can be found simply by right-clicking on the shortcut My computer and choosing from the context menu the item " Properties". The system window will open.

In this window, in the " System type"and will be indicated bit capacity of your system.
On XP, the bit depth in this paragraph will be indicated only if the system 64-bit.

Find out the bitness of the system on Linux

Basically the user linux should know such little things by default. But suddenly if he forgot I will remind you. There are several ways find out the bitness of the system on linux ... We will consider only one.
Let's use the terminal. You can open it through the panel by going to " Applications->Standard->Terminal"or by the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + Alt + T.
In the terminal, type the command uname -m and press Enter

The machine name and system bitness will be displayed.

Computer architecture(English Computer architecture) - the structure of a computer that determines the processing of information and the principles of interaction between hardware and software.
Computer random access memory (RAM, RAM). The abbreviated computer memory is called RAM(random access memory) or RAM(random access memory).

What is bit depth? Bit depth - the ability to simultaneously process a certain number of bits.
All systems Linux exist in two flavors - 32-bit and 64-bit.
Architectural differences between 32 and 64-bit versions Linux of course there is.
The most important features and differences that directly relate to the user and that have to be faced:

1. The maximum amount of random access memory (RAM).
2. Bit operating system (32 or 64-bit).
3. The bit capacity of the processor.

The maximum amount of RAM.

32-bit the operating system can use "see" no more than 4 GB of RAM... This is the most important difference, and the most significant. If your computer has random access memory (RAM) - 2 GB, then 32-bit the operating system works fine with this volume.

64-bit the operating system can handle much more O more memory - up to 192 GB.

If you are on a computer with 4 GB RAM you will be running 32-bit OS, then she simply will not see such a volume. All she can use is roughly 3.5 GB from 4 GB. It cannot provide the rest of the volume for running programs. Of course, if you install on a computer with 8 GB RAM, say, and at the same time you will remain on 32-bit system, then she also will not see more 3.5 GB of the entire set volume and the remaining 4.5 GB will simply remain unused.

What features does a 64-bit system have?

Visually - none. Those. outwardly - this is an ordinary OS, which does not stand out in any way from 32-bit option.
Technically, there are slight differences. The first, in fact, that 64-bit OS"sees" large amounts of memory and knows how to work with them. Second, it allows you to run 64-bit applications(32-bit - no).

The bit capacity of the processor.

Accordingly, in order to be able to establish 64-bit Linux, your processor must support 64-bit instructions (otherwise you won't even be able to start the 64-bit Linux installation). These instructions can be named in different ways: Intel - IA64, AMD - AMD64.

To determine what bit processor (32 or 64-bit) your computer is, run the following command in the terminal:

As you can see in the picture after executing the command, the architecture of my computer is x86_64, i.e. 64-bit... And the processor supports both 32-bit and 64-bit architecture of the installed systems.
If after executing the command you see numbers x86, i686 or i386, then the processor of your computer is 32-bit and you can only install on it 32-bit systems.

To check the architecture of the installed Linux OS on your computer, run one of the following commands in a terminal.

Original: How to Check if Your Linux System is 32-bit or 64-bit
Author: Lori Kaufman
Date of publication: October 2014
Translation: Semenenko V.
Date of transfer: May 2015

It is always useful to know at least the basic characteristics of the operating system under which you have to work on your computer. For example, you may need to know the bitness of the operating system - 32-bit or 64-bit? This is for the case when, when installing an additional program, you need to choose which program of which bit depth you need to download in order to install it on the system.

Of course, the Ubuntu Software Center has a wide variety of programs for the Ubuntu Linux operating system. However, sometimes you may need to install a program from a third-party source that offers a choice of both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the same program. And which version of the program to choose in this case?

This article will describe several ways to determine whether a Linux operating system is 32-bit or 64-bit. Some of these methods provide even more information than just the system capacity.

The first two methods use the uname console command, which displays the required information in a terminal window. If you want to get more information about the system, you must run the uname command with the -a flag:

$ uname -a

As a result, the terminal window will display information in the following order:

• operating system kernel name
• hostname
• operating system kernel release number
• operating system kernel version
• machine name
• type of central processor
• platform
• operating system

In the list displayed by the command, the system capacity is the first digits after the local time of the machine (the images in the article are clickable):

For example, if the system is 64-bit, then in the console it will be indicated as x86_64; if the system is 32-bit, then the console will show it as i686 or i386. Note that in the output of the uname program, the CPU type and platform are denoted in the same way as the bitness of the operating system.

If using the uname command you need to get only the bitness of the operating system, then just run it in a terminal window with the -m flag:

$ uname -m

This command will display the name of the machine and, in addition, show the bitness of the operating system - 32-bit (i686 or i386) or 64-bit (x86_64):

The arch console command is similar to the uname command with the -m flag. The terminal window will also display the bitness of the operating system - 32-bit (i686 or i386) or 64-bit (x86_64). To do this, enter the name of the arch command in the console and run it by pressing the Enter key:

Another console command for displaying information about the bitness of the operating system is the file command with the special argument / sbin / init. In the terminal window, you need to enter a command of the form:

$ file / sbin / init

A lot of information will be displayed in the console, from which in this case only the first line is needed (more precisely, the beginning of this line) - ... ELF 64-bit LSB ...:

If for some reason the use of console commands is unacceptable, then you can use the graphical utilities available in any Linux operating system.

Translator's note: in this case, be prepared for the fact that in different Desktop Environments (GNOME Shell, Cinnamon, Xfce, KDE, Unity) and Window Managers (Enlightenment, Fluxbox, Xfce, etc.), the location of the required information may be different each time. Console utilities are more versatile in this regard.

Consider getting information about the bitness of the operating system using the example of Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon. In the main menu of the system, select the item "System Settings". In the "System Settings" window that opens, find the "System Info" icon in the "Hardware" section. A window of the same name will open with information about the Linux operating system:

In the first line "Operating System" we see the type of the operating system and its bitness.

In the process of acquaintance and prolonged use of the computer, many users are faced with the issue of the bitness of the operating system. Today there are 2 types of OS bit depth: x32 and x64. First of all, the bitness of the system is necessary when installing a certain group of programs that are released in two versions, as well as when choosing a distribution kit for installing the OS on a computer.

What is bit depth?

Bitness is the ability of the processor to process and execute commands in a specific bit mode.

Today there are two types of bit depth: x32 (x86) and x64. The bit depth in x32 bits is sometimes called x86, this type of bit depth is inherent in past generations of processors, and x64 - to new and modern ones. The ability to set the type of bitness of the operating system also depends on the bitness of the processor.

The main technical differences between x32 and x64 for the user are quite significant and have a lot of nuances during installation, we will tell you about their differences and features below.

Differences in the bitness of the OS?

So, first of all, the speed of its work depends on the bitness of the operating system. According to research, a system with an x64-bit architecture is faster than its x32-bit counterpart. Today, many separate versions of programs have been written specifically for the x64 architecture, nevertheless, most of them still work only in x32 mode.

Some people believe that if most programs are written for the x32 architecture, then there is no point in installing an x64 system, but this is fundamentally wrong.

Most users today have more than 4 GB of storage. It is important to note, however, that x32-bit operating systems only work with up to 4 GB of RAM. In other words, if you have 4 GB or more of RAM, then the x32-bit OS will only work with 3 GB, the rest of the RAM will simply not be used. An OS with x64 will see the entire possible amount of RAM, the main thing is that it is supported by your motherboard. from x64 to a computer with less than 4 GB of RAM - no point.

Note that on an x64 operating system, you can install x32 applications, but if it's the other way around, then you can't.

There are no visual differences between the x32 OS and the x64 system. They are absolutely identical visually. Their only obvious difference is the presence of two folders "Program Files" on the system drive C: one installs x64 applications, the other (marked x86) installs x32 applications

How to choose the bitness of the OS?

In order to choose an OS, you need to know the bit rate of your processor and the amount of RAM. If you have more than 4 GB of RAM (ideally from 6 GB), then it is definitely worth installing an x64-bit system.

Let us consider separately the cases with computers with exactly 4 GB of RAM. The fact is that many in this case install an x64-bit system in order to experience all the so-called "advantages" of this bit depth, as well as not to lose half a gigabyte of memory. But the fact is that we, in turn, would strongly recommend that you give preference to an OS with x32-bit. The fact is that the x64 system covers the unused half-megabyte of the x32 system, nevertheless, for its work, it takes more of this volume, which makes such an installation impractical.

When the amount of RAM does not exceed 4 GB, and the processor also operates in x32 mode, then there is nothing to do but install the x32 OS.

How to find out the bitness of the OS?

Let's now try to find out what bit depth your installed system has.

You can get the most accurate answer to the question of the system capacity in the information section. To do this, call the side menu in