 Native 64-bit GIS and remote sensing for the Mac OS 10.5
Native 64-bit TNTmips
MicroImages is now building a true, native 64-bit version of version 2008:74 of the TNT products for Intel-based Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) computers.
An excellent recent technical review at http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/mac-os-x-10-5.ars/6 sets forth clearly why Mac 10.3 and Mac 10.4 using processors prior to the Core 2 Duo did not support a native
64-bit build of any application. In sum: everything has to be 64-bit before anything (any application) can be truly native
64-bit.
For 64-bit Macs
Mac OS 10.5 computers using any Intel single- or multiple-core CPU (Central Processing Unit) except the Core Solo or Core Duo can run the native
64-bit version of the TNT products. The Core Solo and Core Duo used in the first Intel-based Macs and the G4-based Macs are 32-bit only CPUs. Intel’s conventions for naming these CPUs are confusing and there was a vague transition period between the use of the Intel
32-bit only and the 64-bit CPUs in the Mac products.
For 64-bit Enhanced
Macs
The G5 CPU is a 64-bit processor but does not have complete native
64-bit support from Apple even under Mac OS 10.5 (see technical review noted above). It is was used by Apple as a transition chip to support
32-bit applications with some features enhanced by 64-bit operations, specifically access to more real memory. The TNT products have been built and released for the last 3 years to use this
64-bit enhanced mode on the G5 CPU but this has produced only minor performance benefits over
32-bit TNT operations on the same Mac.
For 32-bit Macs
Computers running Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5 with a G4, G5, or any Intel CPU can run the corresponding
32-bit version of the TNT products.
Try both 32-bit and 64-bit
On a Mac, unlike a Windows computer, there is no Registry and you can easily install and run as many different totally independent versions of your TNT product as you like. Thus you can install 32-bit and
64-bit versions of your TNT product for comparison, different release versions, or versions representing different patch dates. Simply remember to add a date or other identification to the
name of the primary folder of each new version you install.
A Few Missing Formats
MicroImages has the source code for most of the components used in the TNT products and these were easily rebuilt for use in this native Mac 64-bit release (the TNT Products were previously released for 64-bit Windows). Some vendors also plan ahead for the concurrent release of their products for new Windows and Mac capabilities. For example, the Kakadu libraries used for JPEG2000 compression of rasters are already available in 32-bit and native 64-bit build versions with multithreaded support and are used extensively in both the
32-bit and 64-bit Mac and Windows versions of the TNT products. However, MicroImages also relies on other proprietary, vendor compiled libraries for the support of the SID, DGN, and DWG formats and 64-bit versions of these libraries are not yet available for use in the native
64-bit Mac version of the TNT products. Nevertheless, as noted above, it is easy to install independent
64-bit and 32-bit versions of a TNT product on a single Mac computer. You can then use the 32-bit version of your TNT product to import and export these missing formats until these
vendors release 64-bit libraries.
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9 May 2008 |
page update:
16 Apr 08
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