Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpcc05!hpcuhb!hpcuhe!edwardm
From: edwardm@hpcuhe.cup.hp.com (Edward McClanahan)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: New Moto chips (was Will NeXT survive?)
Message-ID: <32580029@hpcuhe.cup.hp.com>
Date: 8 May 91 23:15:21 GMT
References: <14720@encore.Encore.COM>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 31

Jerry Callen writes:

> Harumph...the latest chip announcements from Motorola include (more or less):

> - a 68040 with the MMU and FPU disabled
> - a 68030 with the MMU disabled
> - cheaper/faster/better 68020s and 68000s (no FPU or MMU to disable)

Others discuss the apparent illogic of some of these...

I think that Intel is the worst:

- 486SX - same as 486, but 16-bit external data paths and no FPU
- 487SX - actually the same as 486SX but with an FPU
        - Intel designed a special socket to parallel the 486SX so
          that if the 487SX is inserted, the 486SX is disabled and
          the 487SX becomes the CPU (w/ FPU)

Intel claims that "inserting an FPU in a socket next to the CPU" is what
customers want.  What crap!  Why not just remove the 486SX and insert the
487SX in its place?  Pinout patterns different you say?  The 486SX is
soldered to the board (and not socketed)?  I just don't understand the
market for the 486SX (as it is really closer to a 386 than a 486).

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

  Edward McClanahan
  Hewlett Packard Company     -or-     edwardm@cup.hp.com
  Mail Stop 42UN
  11000 Wolfe Road                     Phone: (480)447-5651
  Cupertino, CA  95014                 Fax:   (408)447-5039