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From: mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.intel
Subject: Re: When will the 8088 die?
Message-ID: <7012@chorus.fr>
Date: 3 Dec 90 18:59:08 GMT
References: <1990Dec2.174041.4313@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Sender: mir@chorus.fr
Reply-To: mir@opera.chorus.fr (Adam Mirowski)
Organization: Chorus systemes, Paris, France
Lines: 57

In article <1990Dec2.174041.4313@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu>, smsmith@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Stephen M. Smith) writes:
%% ONG ENG TENG (ong@d.cs.okstate.edu) writes: 
%% >>     I've been wondering since the 486 chips are out now, when is intel and
%% >> others going to stop making the 8088? 
%% >
%% >Isn't the 8088 dead already?  I mean, no one with much knowledge of PC will
%% >buy an 8088 system since the motherboard of 286 is now less than $100 (8088
%% >motherboard is about $35, what is $65 difference considering the performance).
%% 
%% 
%% Actually, 8088's are still running strong.  Look at how many Tandy
%% is still selling in its laptops!
%% 
%% I agree heartily with the original poster.  One reason that technology
%% in the PC isn't marching forward as quickly as it could is that
%% everything has to be so backward compatible.  Look at the stupid
%% 5.25 floppy drive!  That should have gone out a long time ago, but
%% software houses still keep churning out their floppies on these
%% 5.25 floppies because that's what most people have, and the reason
%% most people have 5.25 drives is that software usually comes on 5.25
%% inch disks.  Catch-22.  
%% 
%% Take the case of the monitor.  We now want our monitors
%% to be both backward and forward compatible (from monochrome to
%% 1280x1024).  So the poor monitor has to have analog and digital
%% capabilities with vertical and horizontal frequency ranges running
%% from one end of the spectrum to the other.  This is one reason
%% they are so expensive: they have to do everything.
%% 
%% I *love* it when a software company puts out something that
%% *requires* a 386 and a hard drive.  This tells me that it will
%% take full advantage of the 386, be less expensive, be faster (fewer
%% files to work with), and be more compatible.  This is especially
%% true of games that require EGA or VGA and a hard drive--they're
%% almost always light years ahead of the other games.
%% 
%% What cracks me up is when someone claims that people don't need
%% or want greater computing power.  I think Dvorak commented on 
%% *that* in a recent PC Magazine.
%% 
%% S. "Stevie" Smith \  +  /
%% <smsmith@hpuxa.   \+++++/    " #*&<-[89s]*(k#$@-_=//a2$]'+=.(2_&*%>,,@
%%  ircc.ohio-state. \  +  /      {7%*@,..":27g)-=,#*:.#,/6&1*.4-,l@#9:-)  "
%%  edu>             \  +  / 
%%  BTW, WYSInaWYG   \  +  /                              --witty.saying.ARC

I don't know if you have noticed, but 5.25 1.2 Mo diskettes are sold
at half the 3.5 1.44 Mo price AND ARE TWICE AS FAST!!!!

8088s and 8086s are used in many embedded systems.

BTW, a bit of modesty and tolerance is always useful in a human
society :-)

-- 
Adam Mirowski,  mir@chorus.fr (FRANCE),  tel. +33 (1) 30-64-82-00 or 74
Chorus systemes, 6, av.Gustave Eiffel, 78182 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines CEDEX