I'm successfully running code that was written 10 years before x86-64 was invented on Linux x86-64. You can, too--just find some Win16 software online somewhere and run it under wine, and confirm that it's running without any hardware emulation mode enabled.

And yes, this code is using far pointers.

Do you need me to post my code that loads and executes a NE executable to believe that it's possible?

FWIW, here's what the Intel manual says about running 16-bit code in IA-32e mode:

> In IA-32e mode, the processor supports two sub-modes: compatibility mode and 64-bit mode. 64-bit mode provides 64-bit linear addressing and support for physical address space larger than 64 GBytes. Compatibility mode allows most legacy protected-mode applications to run unchanged.

> In IA-32e mode of Intel 64 architecture, the effects of segmentation depend on whether the processor is running in compatibility mode or 64-bit mode. In compatibility mode, segmentation functions just as it does using legacy 16-bit or 32-bit protected mode semantics.

Those don't sound to me like statements saying that there's no way to get 16-bit legacy applications running on 64-bit mode. Quite the contrary, they're saying that you should expect them to work largely the same.

What does the Intel manual say is actually broken in compatibility mode? This:

> Compatibility mode permits most legacy 16-bit and 32-bit applications to run without re-compilation under a 64-bit operating system. [...] Compatibility mode also supports all of the privilege levels that are supported in 64-bit and protected modes. Legacy applications that run in Virtual 8086 mode or use hardware task management will not work in this mode.