On 2021-03-14 at 06:49, Susmita/Rajib wrote: > While Intel PCs are also 64bit processors? Because of the history of the processor microarchitectures involved. The x86 processor line (32-bit and older) was, to the best of my knowledge, originally an Intel thing. Before i386 (where the 'i' may stand for Intel, I'm not sure), there was 286, and other things earlier than that; if my memory just offhand is accurate, the oldest one was probably called 8086. After i386, you have 486, 586, and 686; current Debian 32-bit packages are actually compiled against the 686 baseline, not 386 as such. Intel owns the patents for the 32-bit x86 CPU architecture, and licenses them to other companies for a price. AMD is one of those other companies; that's how AMD is allowed to create 32-bit x86 CPUs. When 64-bit came along, rather than extending the x86 line, Intel started from scratch and designed an entire new CPU architecture. That got called ia64, and it never caught on; it eventually failed in the marketplace, except possibly in very limited market segments. when Intel created a 64-bit architecture (called ia64), it turned out to be a developmental dead end and failed in the marketplace. At around the same time, AMD created a 64-bit CPU architecture which extended the x86 line, and was backwards compatible with existing software. That got called amd64, and is also sometimes called x86_64, or other names in addition. It caught on, and became so successful that Intel abandoned its ia64 approach and started making amd64 CPUs itself. AMD owns the patents for the 64-bit amd64 CPU architecture, and licenses them to other companies for a price. Intel is one of those other companies; that's how Intel is allowed to create 64-bit amd64 CPUs. Or, put briefly: because AMD created the underlying design for how that type of CPU works, even if Intel is the one making the specific CPU model in question. Does that make sense? -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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