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Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
1–9 of 9 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#2What other sizes would you like?
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#3because that's what's native to the processors we have.
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#4What other sizes would you like?
42. The right answer is always 42.
:)
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#5Because it's quite difficult to find a PDP10 or DECsystem-20 today...
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#6Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#7What other sizes would you like?
Whatever gets us closer to The Custodian [1]
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#8I worked on ICL computers in the 1970s with 24 bit words made up of four 6 bit bytes. Having just 64 characters limited text output a lot. Having 8 bits was much better and it stuck.
Using 4 or 8 of those is just about address space.
Re: Ask HN: Why do we have only 32 bit and 64 bit OS?
#9Because 8-16 bit cpu's are fine without. Eg baremetal AVR firmware comes without all the OS bloat, it does one thing only.