how to find out whether 32 / 64 bit

[KapilRaj]

guys,

In SuSE Linux how do I find out whether my OS is 32 bit or 64 bit

Kaps

[Stuart Browne]

Unless you're installed on an AMD64 of Itanium platform, you're 32bit.

[Stuart Browne]

For a bit more of a specific output, from the 'uname -a' command..

from AMD Opteron (AMD64):
Linux spe189 2.4.21-15.EL #1 Thu Apr 22 00:20:14 EDT 2004 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

from Itanium II (Intel 64):
Linux spe178 2.4.21-4.EL #1 SMP Fri Oct 3 17:29:39 EDT 2003 ia64 ia64 ia64 GNU/Linux

from Pentium Xeon (Intel 32):
Linux notes.promed.com.au 2.4.21-9.ELsmp #1 SMP Thu Jan 8 17:08:56 EST 2004 i686
i686 i386 GNU/Linux

from Alphastation XP1000 (Alpha 32):
Linux spe142 2.4.18-generic #1 Sat Apr 6 20:51:38 EST 2002 alpha unknown

Simply put, 'uname -m' will have '64' in it somewhere, whether it be 'ia64' or 'x86_64'. Everything else will be 32bit.

[Mark Grant]

Alternatively, to be 100% sure

file /proc/kcore

[KapilRaj]

Mark,

Thank you ...

It gives me

/proc/kcore: ELF 32-bit LSB core file of 'vmlinux' Intel 80386, version 1, from 'vmlinux'

So it is a 32 bit operating system. To be honest this is running on an IBM Server

Kaps

[Mark Grant · Accepted solution]

Yes, it is a 32 bit OS.

However, Stuart, as mentioned above gets it pretty much right in that if you're running on an i386 box, you are running 32 bit regardless.

[Stuart Browne]

Except for Itanium and AMD64 support, I was unaware of any other support utilising 64bit with the linux kernel.

All of the alpha stuff is still 32bit, as well as the powerpc and sparc stuff.

The only thing I'm not sure of is the S370 and IBM Mainframe support.

[John Poff]

Hi,

For the mainframe question, we are running SuSE on a s390 here. It is 31-bit, but there is a 64-bit version available if you have the right model of mainframe.

JP

[Stuart Browne]

Thanks John.

Umm, is 31bit a typo?

[John Poff]

Stuart,

No, that isn't a typo. The IBM S/390 series is a 31-bit machine. Their newer zSeries models are 64-bit machines. I'm not a mainframe wizard, so I can't really explain it, but I think it has to do with addressing in the registers.

Here is a link to a web page that goes into the technical details of running Linux on a mainframe.

http://linuxvm.org/penguinvm/notes.html

JP

[KapilRaj]

Thank you all very much .. BTW this is not a mainframe but an intel box from ibm.

Thanks for the fast replies .. i think i was little late (busy in the hpux forum :) )

Nice place again like hpux( I am here(linux) for the first time).

Regds,

Kaps