You should not lump together a 64 bit image and a 64 bit VM. The FAQ  
actually goes to considerable length explaining the difference.

As long as nobody actually needs a 64 bit image, progress will be  
slow in that department. Who's going to invest serious time just for  
a bit of hype? And who is actually held off because a 32 bit image  
can only grow to 4 GB? I don't really expect people flocking towards  
Squeak if we just had better 64 bit support.

A 64 bit VM, yes, sure, because there are platforms who cannot easily  
run 32 bit binaries. OS X fortunately is not 32 bit impaired. And in  
theory, a 64 bit VM could also be faster because of less register  
pressure, but no benchmarks have confirmed this yet. Looking forward  
to those, Dave is doing a great job.

- Bert -

On Nov 27, 2007, at 17:27 , Peter William Lount wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks again for the link. I'll going the list.
>
> However, what I'm wondering is how the squeak group can set it up  
> so it's easy for people to get into 64 bit squeak with a single  
> download and NO effort on their part. That's where the value is -  
> making it easy for the vast majority. It's why Windows beat Unix  
> (until MacOSX that is) - ease of use (and low cost). Squeak clearly  
> has low cost, now it needs ease of use in the 64 bit arena. 64 bit  
> open croquet would also rock.
>
> All the best,
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> Mathieu Suen wrote:
>>
>> Then you should ask the vm mailing-list:
>> http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/vm-dev
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>>     Mth
>>
>> On Nov 27, 2007, at 12:44 PM, Peter William Lount wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the link to the page on 64 bit vms: http:// 
>>> squeakvm.org/squeak64/faq.html. It's is in need of updating.  
>>> MacOSX 10.5.x Leopard needs to be added to the question: "For  
>>> which hardware/OS combinations is there a 64-bit VM?".
>>>
>>> Now that the MacOSX 10.5.x 64 bit Leopard has been released more  
>>> people will likely want to use a 64 bit squeak. This version of  
>>> MacOSX is the first 64 bit OS that will go big time (ok there is  
>>> vista too which this also applies to).
>>>
>>> How does the mac vm .app file get created? how does one create a  
>>> 64 bit version? Who builds the mac version?
>>>
>>> It would be better than nice if there was an official 64 bit  
>>> download for Mac and Vista. 64 bits are becoming popular and it's  
>>> important to get on the band wagon in terms of letting people  
>>> easily download it without having to generate their own vm's and  
>>> images. Can we add these as standard builds from now on please?  
>>> Who makes the standard vm builds for the Mac and Windows?
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Peter
>>
>>>
>>> Mathieu Suen wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I think your may find your answer here:
>>>> http://squeakvm.org/squeak64/faq.html
>>>>
>>>> HTH
>>>>
>>>> On Nov 27, 2007, at 11:19 AM, Peter William Lount wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> Has anyone created a 64 bit Squeak VM and image for Intel  
>>>>> MacOSXdot5
>>>>> Leopard? If so where is it? I couldn't find it at
>>>>> http://squeakvm.org/squeak64.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is the latest mac vm both 32 bit and 64 bit?
>>>>>
>>>>> How does the mac vm get created? How is that different than  
>>>>> creating a unix vm or a pc vm?
>>>>>
>>>>> Is there a 64 bit image created for each published image? If  
>>>>> not, why not? If not then how about putting a menu option so  
>>>>> it's easy to generate a 64 bit image (or 32 bit image for that  
>>>>> matter) from the current image? That would be cool to be able  
>>>>> to have it transform in both directions... and to be easy for  
>>>>> novices without having to think about the process... which is  
>>>>> really only for us uber technies anyhow.
>>>>>
>>>>> MacOSX 10.5 is now 64 bits. We need to show off the 64 bit  
>>>>> smalltalk to the world. Can it be done with one FAT binary or  
>>>>> with two apps?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Mth
>>>>
>>