troch@pilot.njin.net (Rod Troch) (08/24/90)
I was having a discussion with a colleague of mine and we are both
unsure of the history of the 80x86 chip series.
The crux of the discussion is the 80186 chip. Does it exist?
Is it the same as the 8086 chip? Which came first, the 8088 or the
8086 (or should I say 80186)?
Can anyone on the net put together a little history of the chips and
the evolution that has occured?
Thanks,
Rod
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Rod Troch
Kean College of New Jersey
internet : troch@pilot.njin.net : troch@luau.kean.edu
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compuserve : 75335.544@compuserve.comgrege@gold.GVG.TEK.COM (Greg Ebert) (08/24/90)
In article <Aug.23.17.00.55.1990.10936@pilot.njin.net> troch@pilot.njin.net (Rod Troch) writes: > >I was having a discussion with a colleague of mine and we are both >unsure of the history of the 80x86 chip series. > >The crux of the discussion is the 80186 chip. Does it exist? >Is it the same as the 8086 chip? Which came first, the 8088 or the >8086 (or should I say 80186)? > I remember hearing some whispers about the 8086 in late 1979. Back then, when hi-tech was a 16k DRAM, a lot of folks were nervous about having to use a 16-bit bus. So, the 8088 came along. I didn't hear about this one for sure until early 1982, when the PC came out. The 80186 DOES exist. It's called a high-integration device and contains 2 onchip DMA controllers, 3 timers, and RAM/ROM decode logic. It is code-compatible with the 8086. I know this beast existed in 1984 because I used to program it; I think it may have come out in 1983.
bobmon@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (RAMontante) (08/24/90)
The 80186 features a few instructions absent from the 8086/8088, and tighter microcode on others (plus additional support logic). Turbo C compilers have an option to generate "8086" or "80186/80286" object code; the 80186 instruction set is a superset of the 8086 instruction set. The popular NEC V20 replacement chip, which features faster instruction execution, actually emulates the 80186. I can compile programs for mine, using TC's 80186/80286 option, that are smaller and faster (sometimes significantly so, sometimes not). Of course, the executable crashes when I forget and try to use it on an 8088 (or 8086) based machine.
cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gordon Hlavenka) (08/28/90)
Lines: 23 >The 80186 DOES exist. It's called a high-integration device and contains >2 onchip DMA controllers, 3 timers, and RAM/ROM decode logic. It is >code-compatible with the 8086. The 80186 is code-compatible with the 8086, however, it is not _register_- compatible with the PC architecture. In other words, it has PC-type peripherals on-chip, but they are not all on the right ports. Had this situation been otherwise, I think a LOT of clone XTs would have been 80186- based. The incompatibility did not stop everybody, though. For a while I used a "Tiny Turbo 186" board from Orchid. It cranked a Compaq suitcase up to a Norton SI of 6 or 7, as I recall. It also did fabulous print spooling which was nice for printing 123 sheets while editing in WS3.3. Ahhh, the Goodle days... ----------------------------------------------------- Gordon S. Hlavenka cgordon@vpnet.chi.il.us Disclaimer: I've fallen! And I can't get up! So how could I have expressed an opinion?