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From: burkie@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: comparison: 286 and 386 machines?
Message-ID: <110200007@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 21 Sep 89 19:06:00 GMT
Lines: 19
Nf-ID: #N:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:110200007:000:788
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!burkie    Sep 21 14:06:00 1989


I had some questions regarding 286 and 386 machines:
I remember that most ibm machines I ever saw always had
oblong pixels i.e. not square.  On the displays you get now
(esp with resolutions of 640*480), are the pixels
square? What do VGA boards do? Do they have a graphics chip 
to do fast line drawings etc.?
Is the 286 a 32 bit machine like the 386?
How much faster is a 386 compared to a 286 machine at the same MHz
Is the main difference in functionality that the 386 can have memory 
management(?) Does DOS use it or do you have to get OS/2, unix or 
some other operating system to use that? Can both machines do 
multitasking? Without virtual memory is there a problem?

If people can shed some light on these questions, I would
be very grateful.

-Salman
burkie@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu