rf@wu1.UUCP (01/27/84)
Is a McIntosh a 32 bit machine? Well, that depends. There are at least three different numbers which can be bit sizes. 1. Exterior data bus size. This one has the most impact on speed. 2. Processor register size. This one directly impacts programming. 3. Processor address bus size. This one determines the maximum amount of physical memory. |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | | Data | Proc. | Proc. | | | bus | reg. | addr. | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | IBM-PC (8088) | 8 | 16 | 20 | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | Columbia (8086) | 16 | 16 | 20 | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | Typical Z80 | 8 | 8 | 16 | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | Typical 68,000 | 16 | 32 | 24 | | (incl. McIntosh) | | | | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | PDP-11 | 16 | 16 | 18,22 | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | VAX-11 | 64 | 32 | 32 | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| | IBM-360 | 16,32 | 32 | 24 | | (except 360/20) | 64 | | | |-----------------------+-------+-------+-------| Salesmen may reasonably pick whatever numbers they choose from the above chart, which is itself oversimplified. Note that compatable processors may have different bit sizes. Randolph Fritz Western Union Telegraph