NERD ALERT 64 BIT

AVID NERD ALERT!!!  NON-NERDS GET A LOOK AT THESE PICTURES!

I came across some info on 32 bit programs and 64 bit operating systems.  I've heard of many people running into trouble trying to get avid to run on 64 bit operating systems, as avid media composer 5.5 and below are 32 bit applications.
I personally have not run into this issue, and run avid 5.5 on my mac pro tower and macbook pro laptop, both which are 64 bit, and it runs just dandy.   At the TV network where I work our macs are set to 32 bit mode in order for avid to work.



Here's the link to some tech info I came across on the avid forums.  Pretty interesting reference:

If you're interested, here is more detail on 32 bit and 64 bit environments, as provided by our engineering department:
Will this 32 bit software run on my 64 bit operating system?
or
Will this 64 bit software run on my computer?
Here's a short tutorial which attempts to answer these questions and helps us understand the concepts of 64 bit and 32 bit hardware, operating system and applications.
32 bit systems have been part of the mainstream computing for more than a decade since the time of the 80386. Therefore, most of the software and operating system code written during this time has been 32 bit compatible.
32 bit systems can address up to 4 GB memory in one go. Some modern applications require more memory than this to complete their tasks. This and progress in chip fabrication technology led to the development of 64 bit processors for mainstream computing.
So here comes the problem, much of the software available today is still 32 bit, but the processors have migrated to 64 bit. The operating systems are slowly catching up. Eventually even the applications will catch up. But for now, we have to cope up with all combinations of 32 and 64 bits in hardware, operating system and applications.
To run a 64 bit application, you need support from all lower levels (64 bit OS and 64 bit processor).
To run a 64 bit OS, you need support from its lower level (a 64 bit processor).
A 32 bit OS will run on a 32 or 64 bit processor without any problems.
Similarly a 32 bit application will run on any combination of OS and processor (except a combination of 32 bit processor and 64 bit OS which is not possible). This is usually accomplished through emulation which is an operating system feature, part of all major operating systems.
Device drivers run in parallel to the operating system. Emulation is done at the operating system level, and is available to its higher layer: the application. Therefore, it is not possible to install a 32 bit device driver on a 64 bit operating system.
Answers to common questions:
Will a 64 bit CPU run a standard (32-bit) program on a 64-bit version of an OS?
Yes it will. 64 bit systems are backward compatible with the 32 bit counterparts.
Will a 64-bit OS run a standard application on a 64 bit processor?
Again, it will. This is because of backward compatibility.

Can I run W2K and WXP on an 64 bit CPU, and use old software?
Yes, a 32 bit OS (W2K and WXP) will run on a 64 bit processor. Also, you should be able to run "old software" on a 64 bit OS.
However, before I close, let me also quote that many times, a 64 bit software will contain bits of 32 bit code. Similarly 32 bit software (usually very old ones) can have some code in 16 bit. Please be aware that 16 bit code will NOT run on 64 bit OS. This is one reason behind some 32 bit programs not working on 64 bit OSes.
Larry Rubin Senior Editor The Pentagon Channel

Here's the link: 

http://community.avid.com/forums/t/96906.aspx?PageIndex=2

Ok back to whatever...