GIMP Version: 2.6.11
Operating System: Linux
OS Version: Windows7 (64-bit) and Fedora 16
GIMP Experience: Basic Level

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My desktop pc has Windows 7 64-bit, 1-T, i5 Intel core 8 GB's Ram I installed another hard drive that is 500GB. On this drive I have Linux Fedora 16 installed. (love it)

My question is... Would the 500GB also be 64-bit? I know this is a stupid question. I would like to know this in case I decide to install 64 bit software. So far, everything I have installed has been 32-bit. I don't even know what the difference is between the two.

A 64-bit OS will allow you to address 100s of Tera-bytes but otherwise, no difference really if both OSs use NTFS Molly. Indeed, if that's the case, you can take you 64-bit OS HD out and slave it to your 32-bit OS to transfer files from each for instance, but, you won't be able to properly boot from that drive since the 2 OSs require different things such as drivers and such and indeed it would probably mess the OS up on the 64-bit OS so don't even try to do that. Hope that answers your question.

Not sure, but I think so, thanks Lyle.
I just didn't know if my new 500 GB was or is 32 or 64. Just call me the techie dum-dum

Ignorance and dumb are similar; just means you didn't know but can learn. Stupid is being trained but then still can't figure it out. I'd rather be dumb then stupid.

another thing to consider is the Ram, 32bit can't use more then 2GB (even if much more is installed).

so if you have much ram you will not want a 32bit OS

At it's lowest level, PC hard drives store data the same way on both 32 and 64 bit architecture. There are no hardware compatibility issues when using modern drives on 32-bit vs 64-bit operating systems.


PCs with 32-bit architecture can process 4 bytes of data at once in a singe CPU cycle. They contain fast 32-bit (4 byte) hardware registers. PCs with 64-bit architecture can process 8 bytes of data in a single CPU cycle, using fast 64-bit hardware registers and addressable memory locations. This gives the 64-bit hardware the potential to process twice the amount of data as the 32-bit hardware could, at the same clock speed. 128-bit hardware can process 4 times the amount of data as 32-bit hardware, at the same clock speed.

Software needs to keep up with the hardware but software ALWAYS lags behind the hardware. That's why we have 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and applications running on the same piece of 64-bit hardware. In a perfect world, you'd want both the hardware and software to be 64-bit and untimely, that will happen, about the time 128-bit hardware arrives on the scene.

I disagree with you Tux; the future is in qubit processing.

No, I agree with you. I was just pointing out the difference between 32-bit, 64-bit and soon to be 128-bit PC architectures but quantum computing is the future. Maybe not the near future for PC desktop users, but it is certainly a game changer in the evolution of computing.

So, after all that, should I be downloading my apps as 32 or 64? as in Gimp, GMIC etc.

32-bit operating systems can normally address up to 4GB of RAM. 32-bit Linux can see 8GB RAM (PAE Kernel) but a single app can't address more than 4GB of internal memory (without bank switching).