can 32 bit Linux Mint run a 64 bit program?
 

I recently dusted off a 9 year old System 76 Netbook-Star1- that had a Netbook remix on it from Ubuntu. I wiped the drive and installed Linux Mint 18 on it-the 32 bit XFCE version. I wanted to get it up and running again to have a real mobile computer that can run my USB Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 which it does just fine. This is what I have and the webcam does the encoding by itself so it's really clear on old computers:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's where I hit a wall. I want to get Skype software running on it for conference calls (I know Skype isn't the preferred way to go for a lot of people, but that wasn't my decision as I'm part of a Team). I found out that a couple years ago Skype got taken over by MicroSoft and now the old 32 bit programs don't work. M$ only makes 64 bit software available for Linux and want old computers to use their slow web interface.

So, is there a way with compatibility libraries that I can get 64 bit Skype working on 32 bit Linux Mint?

Marty

You need 64-bit hardware, 64-bit kernel and any supporting libraries needed by Skype must be 64-bit as well.

No.

So there's no way for me to fool Skype into thinking I have a 64 bit OS without changing my hardware? Is it possible to upgrade my old Netbook that runs an Intel Atom CPU to a 64 bit CPU? Probably would have to change the mobo and find one that fits into this 9" X 6" case.

Marty

You sure your Atom is 32-bit?

I figured it was-found out it was an Intel Atom by using the system rescue cd on it and it's USB port for external cd drive. I guess I could try hwinfo script. Could it be 64 bit?

Marty

Run lscpu on the command line and paste the output here.

can you squeeze a quarter out of a nickel?

Thanks for the tip-when I get home I'll try that. I looked and there's actually a full wiki page for Intel atom and they did have a 64 bit and 32 bit chip at 1.6 GHz in 2008. The 330 chip is 64 bit-so hopefully that's what lscpu shows!

well that's a no go I think unless I can desolder the CPU and replace with atom 330 assuming mobo won't need switching:

CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit
Byte Order: Little Endian
CPU(s): 2
On-line CPU(s) list: 0,1
Thread(s) per core: 2
Core(s) per socket: 1
Socket(s): 1
Vendor ID: GenuineIntel
CPU family: 6
Model: 28
Model name: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
Stepping: 2
CPU MHz: 800.000
CPU max MHz: 1600.0000
CPU min MHz: 800.0000
BogoMIPS: 3192.11
L1d cache: 24K
L1i cache: 32K
L2 cache: 512K
Flags: fpu vme de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 xtpr pdcm movbe lahf_lm dtherm


Anyway to see the motherboard type without opening the netbook?

Marty

This is my netbook dismantled:

Attachment 26789

I did this years ago but never tried to get the motherboard out so I can see how the CPU got soldered there.

Marty

Just for info, the CPU op-mode(s) field just tells you what the operating system you have installed supports, it's the Architecture field that tells you the actual architecture of the CPU. However your output doesn't seem to include the latter field.

In any case, it's a 32-bit processor:

https://ark.intel.com/products/36331...Hz-533-MHz-FSB

Why don't you get in contact with System76 and ask them whether it's possible to upgrade the CPU and, if so, how to do it?

For future reference, the absence of "lm" (long mode) from the CPU flags, is enough to show that the cpu is 32 bit x86.

As others have stated, there is no way to run 64 bit software on 32 bit hardware. It's a "1 pint in a 1/2 pint glass" scenario.

Good idea!