bgeer@javelin.es.com (Bob Geer) (12/22/90)
bill@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Bill Frolik) writes: >... For some reason they picked A000:0000 >as the address beyond which all this system stuff lives, which gives >us the 640K "limit". When the first IBMPC was designed, 640k was 10 times the amount of memory in the then-common Z80/6502/6809-based pc's, and "who'd ever use *that* much memory?" Also, 16k-bit chips were the norm (during the design cycle -- 64k-bit chips were just getting reliable as the IBMPC was finally available) & were at least as expensive in late-70's dollars as 1meg chips are today. While processors have gotten faster, memory chips are more dense & cheaper, disks are bigger, modems are faster, we're still living with the restrictions of a late-70's design of bios. This bios is the reason the 286 chip didn't achieve its full potential, & the 386 has such a great advantage because it's design was driven in part to compensate for the bios design shortcomings. -- <> Bob `Bear' Geer <> bgeer%javelin@dsd.es.com...dsd.es.com!javelin!bgeer <> <> Alta-holic <> speaking only for myself, one of my many tricks <> <> Salt Lake City, <> "We must strive to be more than we are, Lal." <> <> Ootah <> -- Cmdr. Data, learning schmaltz <>