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32bit ARM and aarch64 are wildly different instruction sets. 32bit ARM may as well be x86 or MIPS as far as running it on aarch64 hardware, it is going to requi

32bit ARM and aarch64 are wildly different instruction sets. 32bit ARM may as well be x86 or MIPS as far as running it on aarch64 hardware, it is going to require just about the same level of emulation(memory models may be similar which would help, but that's about it). Unlike x86/64, the 32bit silicon is entirely gone in most aarch64.

DeathArrow 2y ago
I wonder why Intel and AMD still keep the 32 bit and even 16 bit parts. Are there people still running many legacy apps?
- deafpolygon 2y ago
  Yes
- jerdfelt 2y ago
  Intel has proposed dropping 32-bit and 16-bit support in the future. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/envisioning-future-simplified-architecture.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/t...
  - layer8 2y ago
    The proposal doesn’t remove 32-bit user land or (I think) virtualization.
    - wtallis 2y ago
      X86S allows 32-bit ring3 (userland) but even VMs are stuck in long mode and only support 32-bit code for userland. Booting a VM for a 64-bit OS that has a legacy bootloader with 16-bit or 32-bit code would require software emulation of that code.
- adamc 2y ago
  As a consumer, yes. Old steam games are a big deal. In business... not where I work, but I hear stories of shops that still have lots of old 32-bit COM stuff, etc.
- layer8 2y ago
  32-bit applications are still pretty ubiquitous, including Office add-ins, and there is no particular benefit on x86 in removing support for 32-bit on the application side.
- monocasa 2y ago
  On windows, a lot of installers are 32-bit even if the application they're installing is 64-bit so that they can fail gracefully on 32-bit OSes.
  - pishpash 2y ago
    Why would you care that the installer fails gracefully?
    - solardev 2y ago
      It's helpful for the users
      - pishpash 2y ago
        The OS already throws a specific error message, and it is the OS that should be responsible for this.
        tom_ 2y ago
        This gives you no opportunity for a customized product-specific upgrade UI! Choosing to install the 32-bit version could also be an option I suppose.
lowbloodsugar 2y ago
>32bit ARM and aarch64 are wildly different instruction sets Maybe for the CPU implementation, but having written a lot of ARM2 assembly, the disassembly of Aarch64 is far more readable than x86_64 to me.

DeathArrow 2y ago

I wonder why Intel and AMD still keep the 32 bit and even 16 bit parts. Are there people still running many legacy apps?

deafpolygon 2y ago
Yes
jerdfelt 2y ago
Intel has proposed dropping 32-bit and 16-bit support in the future. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/envisioning-future-simplified-architecture.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/t...
- layer8 2y ago
  The proposal doesn’t remove 32-bit user land or (I think) virtualization.
  - wtallis 2y ago
    X86S allows 32-bit ring3 (userland) but even VMs are stuck in long mode and only support 32-bit code for userland. Booting a VM for a 64-bit OS that has a legacy bootloader with 16-bit or 32-bit code would require software emulation of that code.
adamc 2y ago
As a consumer, yes. Old steam games are a big deal. In business... not where I work, but I hear stories of shops that still have lots of old 32-bit COM stuff, etc.
layer8 2y ago
32-bit applications are still pretty ubiquitous, including Office add-ins, and there is no particular benefit on x86 in removing support for 32-bit on the application side.
monocasa 2y ago
On windows, a lot of installers are 32-bit even if the application they're installing is 64-bit so that they can fail gracefully on 32-bit OSes.
- pishpash 2y ago
  Why would you care that the installer fails gracefully?
  - solardev 2y ago
    It's helpful for the users
    - pishpash 2y ago
      The OS already throws a specific error message, and it is the OS that should be responsible for this.
      - tom_ 2y ago
        This gives you no opportunity for a customized product-specific upgrade UI! Choosing to install the 32-bit version could also be an option I suppose.

lowbloodsugar 2y ago

>32bit ARM and aarch64 are wildly different instruction sets Maybe for the CPU implementation, but having written a lot of ARM2 assembly, the disassembly of Aarch64 is far more readable than x86_64 to me.