Question

61

What is the meaning of 'i686' in Ubuntu?

rated 0 times [ 61] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 220222 / 2 Years ago, mon, august 1, 2022, 6:09:40

To check whether I am using 32bit or 64bit Ubuntu. I looked in How do I check if I have a 32-bit or a 64-bit OS? and found this answer uname -a. If it is shown as i386, it will be 32bit and amd64, it will be 64 bit, but I got this result:

Linux mukund-ThinkPad-Edge-E431 3.8.0-35-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Tue Dec 3 01:25:33 UTC 2013 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

What is this i686? Is it 32bit or 64bit - I think it is 32bit, because all the Debian packages which I installed in it are of 32bit, so can anybody please give a detailed explanation.

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

afyess

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 437

Total Questions: 120

Total Answers: 107

Location: San Marino

Member since Fri, Jul 3, 2020

4 Years ago

afyess questions

1 1TB External USB Hard Drive format problems on Ubuntu 20.04

Fri, Jan 6, 23, 21:22, 1 Year ago

1 How do I disable middle mouse click pasting clipboard?

Thu, Aug 11, 22, 15:52, 2 Years ago

1 Stuck in TTY after install. Seemingly full functionality except for the lack of any GUI

Sun, Feb 26, 23, 10:35, 1 Year ago

1 Ubuntu 21.04 connected to wifi but no internet

Sun, Aug 14, 22, 09:58, 2 Years ago

1 What is meant by no wireless extension?

Wed, Sep 28, 22, 09:22, 2 Years ago

View All

answered 2 Years ago nsuainner · Accepted Answer

i686 means that you're using 32 bit OS.

Go into the terminal and type in.
uname -a
If your results are similar to the one below, then yours is 64-bit;
otherwise, it is 32-bit.
Linux ubuntu-tm 2.6.35-28-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Mar 1 14:39:03 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux
If you have the x86_64 then your machine is 64-bit.

If your results are similar to this one; then you have 32-bit.
Linux Server 2.6.15-23-386 #1 SMP Tue Mar 1 13:49:40 UTC 2011 i686 GNU/Linux
Notice the i686 in the code, that means your machine is 32-bit.

UPDATE:

Type in the following in the terminal;
uname -m
It will give you either x86_64, which is 64-bit, or something
else, which is 32-bit.

Courtesy: https://superuser.com/a/260999/130574
(Its a copy of that answer)

Also referred to as the P6 microarchitecture, it is the sixth generation Intel x86 microarchitecture, implemented by the Pentium Pro microprocessor that was introduced in November 1995. i686 code is intended to be executed on processors which are compatible with the 32 bit Intel x86 platform, which includes all Intel 32bit x86 processors up to and including the Pentium 4, etc. as well as processors from AMD and other vendors which make compatible 32bit chips.

Courtesy: Wikipedia and this link

In short:

It just means that you're running a 32 bit kernel supporting codes compatible with the i686 processor architecture.

N.B:

It doesn't mean that your system is only capable of running a 32bit kernel, it just means that you're currently running a 32 bit kernel based OS.