ehohnbau@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU (06/01/91)
That guy from Intel was right. There are some bashers out there. A big reason for this (I believe) is that maintaining compatibility with the old stuff forces kludgey design solutions and the purists cringe at stuff like that. How seriously have guys at Intel (or should I say IBM) considered coming up with something really cool and un-fettered chip and including an optional co-processor like a '386 on a board so that compatibility can be maintained with the rest of the PC world? Kind of like the Mac LC/Apple II emulation board. I would appreciate if replies were also sent by email so that I don't miss the post by accident. (ehohnbau@bonnie.ics.uci.edu)
dana@locus.com (Dana H. Myers) (06/04/91)
In article <9105312309.aa03113@Bonnie.ics.uci.edu> ehohnbau@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU writes: >That guy from Intel was right. There are some bashers out there. >A big reason for this (I believe) is that maintaining compatibility with >the old stuff forces kludgey design solutions and the purists cringe at >stuff like that. > >How seriously have guys at Intel (or should I say IBM) considered coming up >with something really cool and un-fettered chip and including an optional >co-processor like a '386 on a board so that compatibility can be maintained >with the rest of the PC world? Gosh, they've beaten you to it. -> They introduced the 80960 family a couple of years ago. -> They introduced the 80860 family a couple of years ago. -> The 8096 microcontroller, introduced in 1982 or so, is good for what it is. -> The 386 and 486 actually broke with the past in many ways. -> Don't know about the 960 and 860? Call (800) 548-4725 and ask for the Intel Product Guide. Then maybe order an 80960 Programmer's Reference. Heck, even I'll say the 8086 architecture is less than optimal. But all the pseudo-intellectual bigotry that goes on about this is even sillier. -- * Dana H. Myers KK6JQ | Views expressed here are * * (213) 337-5136 | mine and do not necessarily * * dana@locus.com | reflect those of my employer *