What's the diff between 32 and 24... really

[Mike Chow]

In article <3341 at dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> jim at jagmac2.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jim Jagielski) writes:
>
>Real quick now... what's the real difference between 32 and 24 bit mode.
>I mean what can you do in one but not the other, etc...
>

You can only run 1 "hybrid" application in 24-bit mode.  A "hybrid" application
is an A/UX COFF executable that is linked with the Macintosh toolbox.  Since
CommandShell is a hybrid application, that ends up being the only one you
run in 24-bit mode.  You can run as many hybrid applications you want in 
32-bit mode.  Consequently, you can run the cmdo utility (also a hybrid app)
only in 32-bit mode.  You can still use Commando either by double-clicking or 
from within CommandShell in either 24 or 32 bit mode.

You can have up to a 16MB MultiFinder memory size in 32-bit mode.  You can 
have a maximum 8MB MultiFinder memory size in 24-bit mode.  Of course, since
you have MultiFinder in both modes, you can run several Macintosh applications
concurrently as limited by memory.

You can run 32-bit clean Mac applications in either 24-bit or 32-bit mode.  
Since MacX is a 32-bit clean Mac application, you can use MacX in either mode.

You can run 24-bit Mac applications in 24-bit mode which won't run in 32-bit 
mode (the whole reason for 24-bit mode).

>Thanks!

De Nada.

Mike Chow
mgchow at apple.com