[parisc-linux] Can I do 64 bit

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Sun, Mar 17, 2002 at 12:40:54AM -0800, Tim Robb wrote:
> Hello, I recently aquired a HP C180XP here is the
> I am wondering if this system can run a 64 bit kernel?
>  Can anyone tell me if it can and how do I get it
> booted up in 64 bit mode if it can?

Let's get a FAQ entry for this:

15. Can I run a 64-bit kernel on my machine?

The answer to this is generally determined by the firmware your machine
runs.  Workstations up to and including the J2240 and C360 only have
32-bit firmware.  The normal 64-bit kernel will not run on these systems.
The A500 and L2000 server only have 64-bit firmware, and these machines
must run a 64-bit kernel.  The C3000 and similar workstations have both
32-bit and 64-bit firmware and can therefore run either kernel.

A more important question is: why do you want to run a 64-bit kernel?
Since we do not yet support 64-bit userspace, there is no advantage
to be gained running a 64-bit kernel on a machine with less than 3.5GB
of memory.

For those who do want to test 64-bit kernels on older machines, there is a
special configuration option `32-bit PDC' which will allow a 64-bit kernel
to work with 32-bit firmware.  We cannot enable this option by default
as the resulting kernel will not work on machines with 64-bit firmware.

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