Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!alberta!cpsc.ucalgary.ca!ctycal!ingoldsb From: ingoldsb@ctycal.UUCP (Terry Ingoldsby) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: The CPU with 3 brains Summary: Automatic code conversion Message-ID: <510@ctycal.UUCP> Date: 15 Nov 90 19:47:42 GMT References: <42737@mips.mips.COM> <1990Nov4.014901.23819@zoo.toronto.edu> <2841@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> Organization: The City of Calgary, Ab Lines: 19 > In article pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes: > > | Except for oddities like the 860 and 960, isn't the 486 still designed > | to be almost binary compatible with the 8008? Sigh! I think what you are remembering is that when the 808(6/8) first came out, Intel made available a tool that would convert most 8080 code to 8086 code. As I recall, it sort of assigned certain 8080 registers to match 8086 registers, and either used instructions that performed the same operation or a sequence of instructions to get the same effect. I don't believe it was 100% effective, but was intended to assist software developers in getting their code converted quickly. I may be wrong. -- Terry Ingoldsby ctycal!ingoldsb%cpsc.ucalgary.ca Land Information Services or The City of Calgary ...{alberta,ubc-cs,utai}!calgary!ctycal!ingoldsb