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- Path: druid.borland.com!usenet
- From: pete@borland.com (Pete Becker)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
- Subject: Re: 16bit vs. 32bit
- Date: 1 Apr 1996 20:14:30 GMT
- Organization: Borland International
- Message-ID: <4jpdf6$r1r@druid.borland.com>
- References: <4iui27$egk@news.netam.net> <4iunpm$c0n@crl.crl.com>
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- In article <4iunpm$c0n@crl.crl.com>, bobfry@crl.com says...
- >
- >bgc@alpha.netam.net (The Bowling Green Connection) writes:
- >
- >>Could someone explain, technically, what 16bit and 32bit refers to?
- >>Is there a FAQ somewhere about it I could read?
- >
- >With the newer compilers, you can switch between modes using a
- >compile-time switch. (Don't mix modes!). Windows NT (and Windows 95, I
- >think) use protected mode for their code and libraries. Windows 3.x uses
- >real (16 bit) mode. And the switch between the two modes is very slow.
-
- Nope. Beginning with 3.1, Windows is protected mode only. It's 16-bit protected
- mode, though, with all the segmentation issues that that entails. Incidentally,
- from the 386 on, switching modes is done in both directions through a control
- bit in the CPU. It's not at all slow.
- -- Pete
-
-