Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ncar!mephisto!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Intel Processors
Summary: Older than 486 ...
Message-ID: <4004@rtifs1.UUCP>
Date: 5 Aug 90 10:02:58 GMT
References: <1990Jul30.143353.25913@usenet@kadsma>
Distribution: na
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 25

In article <1990Jul30.143353.25913@usenet@kadsma>, pajerek@usenet@kadsma (Don Pajerek) writes:
> The 286 chip is called the 286.  The 386 chip is called the 386.
> 
> Why is the 80486 chip always referred to as the i486?
> 
> Is this some sort of protocol that Intel wants the world to observe?

Intel for quite some time has been trying to get the world to refer
to the 80286 and 80386 as the i286 and i386 respectively.  So it's not
anything new.  Since they seem to follow this naming fairly
consistently, they apparently want the world to observe it.

I have seen relatively few people outside of Intel refer to the
80286, 80386, and 80486 as the i286, i386, and i486 respectively -
most often the abbreviations 286, 386, and 486 are used, or the
longer numeric names;  rarely the i-names.  I've usually seen the
entire family called the 80x86 family.

The i is apparently short for iAPX (which is a term they use for
a number of different Intel processors, not just the 80x86 family -
such as the i860).  I don't know what that stands for;  I can make
a guess (something like Intel Application Processor Architecture), 
but does anyone know for _sure_?

					Bruce C. Wright