Architecture problems, what is armhf

By failing to install some i386 architecture packages, i assumed i was running on amd64 architecture but when i input

sudo dpkg --print-architecture

the output is armhf. Can someone explain what it means? I was expecting amd64 as an output.

1 Answer

armhf is an architecture used mostly in mobile devices and netbooks. Its more common name is ARM, or the Acorn RISC (reduced instruction set computing) Machine (see here for more information). Some packages that are not multi-arch will not install properly, whether they are i386 or not.

Side note: amd64 architecture can most of the time install and run i386 architecture programs.