What is 32-bit addressing and when does it need to be active?
With 32-bit addressing, you can install and access more than 8MB of physical RAM in the Macintosh. This means you can work with very large data files, very large applications, or many applications concurrently. 32-bit addressing is most attractive to Macintosh users working with large memory-intensive programs. While virtually anyone can benefit from the large amount of memory offered by 32-bit addressing, it will immediately benefit database users, color-graphic users, CAD/CAM users, and programmers. More technically speaking, 32-bit addressing lets most recent Macintosh models access the entire memory range of the microprocessor. 32-bit addressing is fully implemented in the Macintosh Quadra series. If more than 8 MB of memory (RAM) is installed, the 32-bit addressing option should be turned on in the Memory control panel. If, for example, 16 MB is installed on a Macintosh Quadra 650 and 32-bit addressing is off in the Memory control panel, the system software will appear to take up
