I'm confused, what's the default in Snow Leopard 32-64bit?

[fstigre]

Hi,

I'm a little confused with Snow Leopard, I have been reading and it looks like in order to enable the 64bit you need to press key 4 and 6 when booting, I installed SL the next day it came out and since than my apps are running in 64bit (looking at the Activity Monitor) without have to press 4 and 6 (it looks like 64bit is the default on my macbook) which wasn't a problem until today that I wanted to run office 2004 and it didn't work, I was reading and it looks like rosetta wont run in 64bit so, I don't know how to run my system in 32bit.


1 - How can I turn the 64bit off?
2 - Is it true that I need to run office in 32bit?

If question number 2 is true, what if I want to run some apps in 64bit do I need to reboot?

Thanks,
fstigre

 

[impulse462]

Snow Leopard defaults to a 32bit kernel. however all the apps you run are still in 64 bit. the 64-bit kernel is only to address more than 32gb of ram.(thats where you hold the 6 and 4 keys down at start up). in other words you are in 32bit "mode" but you can still run all of your 64bit apps which is what activity monitor shows.

If you want to access an app in 32-bit mode you can right click on it, click get info and check "run in 32-bit mode"

as for office i'm not sure but i think that runs in 32-bit mode cuz mine takes a while to boot up.

 

[fstigre]

First of all thank you very much for your reply.

the 64-bit kernel is only to address more than 32gb of ram.(thats where you hold the 6 and 4 keys down at start up)

Just to be clear on this, if I never press 4 and 6 during boot time the system won't allocate more than 32bit to any 64bit apps, but they will still run in 64bit. If this is true, is the 64bit app run faster without the extra ram?

If you want to access an app in 32-bit mode you can right click on it, click get info and check "run in 32-bit mode"

If 32bit is the default office should be running ok, no? I right clicked on Word and Excel and I don't see the option "open in 32-bit mode".

Any other suggestion for the office problem?

Thanks

 

[impulse462]

If you never press 4 and 6 during start up, you will not be able to address more than 32gb of ram BUT all your 64 bit apps (i.e. safari, ichat etc.) will still run in 64bit mode and yes they are faster when running in 64bit even without the extra ram

your apps will only run in 32bit mode if you tell them too (most of them).

as for office, it only runs in 32bit mode so you shouldnt worry about that

 

[maflynn]

First of all thank you very much for your reply.


Just to be clear on this, if I never press 4 and 6 during boot time the system won't allocate more than 32bit to any 64bit apps, but they will still run in 64bit. If this is true, is the 64bit app run faster without the extra ram?

Incorrect. Any apps that can or require 64bit OS will run in Snow Leopard. Its a 64bit OS that can run both 64 and 32bit apps.

If 32bit is the default office should be running ok, no? I right clicked on Word and Excel and I don't see the option "open in 32-bit mode".

You're confusing the 64bit kernel and 64bit OS. Snow Leopard can boot up the 32bit kernel and still run 64bit OS. Some applications that require low level support like VMware cannot run (at the moment) when you boot up the 64bit kernel. Office is not one of them. You can run MS office, regardless of which kernel gets booted up.

Remember, snow leopard is a 64bit os capable of running both 32/64bits but only boots up the 32bit kernel for compatbility reasons. Not all drivers have a 64bit counterpart so its possible your printer/scanner or whatever won't run (yet). By defaulting to the 32bit kernel, apple is providing full 64bit app access but playing it safe at the low level because not all drivers have been recompiled to 64bit yet.

 

[fstigre]

as for office, it only runs in 32bit mode so you shouldnt worry about tha

You can run MS office, regardless of which kernel gets booted up.

Thank you both!

Well, for some reason none of the programs in office 2004 run after I installed SL, when I click on any of these apps they just sit there and if I look at the Activity Monitor at says that the app is (not responding).

Do I need rosetta to run these apps? How do I know if I have it installed?

 

[impulse462]

Do I need rosetta to run these apps? How do I know if I have it installed?

I read somewhere you need Rosetta installed for office 04, however if it didnt prompt you to install it then maybe you dont need it? i have office 08 so :/

 

[r.j.s]

Do I need rosetta to run these apps? How do I know if I have it installed?

Rosetta will prompt you to install when you open an app that needs it - and yes, Office 2004 needs it.

 

[fstigre]

Any idea why its not working?

 

[mkrishnan]

Any idea why its not working?

Office 2004 is a PPC program. You certainly need Rosetta to run it in Snow Leopard. It's supposed to try to install automatically when you try to run Office 04, but it looks like maybe it didn't? Are you connected to the internet when you try to run Office 04?

Can you install it from the optional installs section of the SL disc? (I.e. put the SL disc back in and look for the optional installs installer)

 

[fstigre]

Can you install it from the optional installs section of the SL disc? (I.e. put the SL disc back in and look for the optional installs installer)

Mmm, I just did this but still not working.

thanks

 

[mkrishnan]

How did you install SL, and how did you install Office 2004? Depending on what you did, the issue might not be Rosetta (and it's definitely not 64-bit support), but actually it might be that your copy of Office 04 was incompletely restored or corrupted during your upgrade... that's been reported with some other apps, e.g. someone who used a Time Machine restore and found that Photoshop Elements didn't work anymore.

I found this by a quick Google...

http://kb.iu.edu/data/aprq.html

Perhaps you should uninstall and re-install Office 04.

 

[fstigre]

but actually it might be that your copy of Office 04 was incompletely restored or corrupted during your upgrade

I made an upgrade, so thats probably what happen. I will do the re-install.

Thanks a lot

 

[mkrishnan]

I made an upgrade, so thats probably what happen. I will do the re-install.

Thanks a lot

Sure thing, let us know if it works or not. I thought because Office has drag and drop installing that it might be able to fix anything missing off in the Libraries somewhere, but perhaps it doesn't.

 

[savar]

You're confusing the 64bit kernel and 64bit OS. Snow Leopard can boot up the 32bit kernel and still run 64bit OS.

That's a confusing distinction b/c the kernel is part of the OS. Really its more like, "the kernel can run in 32 bits while the rest of the OS runs in 64 bits."

Remember, snow leopard is a 64bit os capable of running both 32/64bits but only boots up the 32bit kernel for compatbility reasons.

QFT.

64 bit mode is just a curiosity for the average user right now. If it works for you, then there's no harm in using it. But if you can't print, can't scan, etc. then you'll need to go back to 32 bit.

 

[fstigre]

Uninstalled and reinstalled and still not working.

Any other suggestion?

Thank you very much for your replies