Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!aunro!alberta!ubc-cs!mprgate.mpr.ca!newshost!morse From: morse@quark.mpr.ca (Daryl Morse) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: What's in the '586? Message-ID: Date: 15 May 91 15:09:51 GMT References: <1991May14.002130.4740@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> <42347@cup.portal.com> Sender: news@mprgate.mpr.ca Organization: MPR Teltech Ltd., Burnaby, BC, Canada. Lines: 39 In-Reply-To: mmm@cup.portal.com's message of 15 May 91 06:48:18 GMT In article <42347@cup.portal.com> mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) writes: umh@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Maynard Handley) says: >>Much as we all hate intel processors, it's always interesting to see what >>new perversions they come up with. Does anyone know what will make the 586 Is this guy psychic or what??? >A novel method has been developed for reducing the cost of floating-point >performance to the end user. Each 586 has 100 bytes of EPROM for >storing passwords unique to each chip. When a user decides to upgrade >to hardware floating point, he simply calls Intel and buys the password >for enabling the on-chip FPU. Each password is good for 10 gigaflops, >i.e. you get 10,000,000,000 floating point operations. (An 8-bit >password is sufficient, because three consecutive failed password attempts >permanently disables the FPU). When you buy your 100th password, the FPU >becomes permanently enabled. This benefits the consumer because it allows >him to buy exactly what he needs, rather than overspending on unused performance. >It also cuts out the middleman, allowing the end-user to reap the cost savings >of dealing directly with Intel. It's a darn good thing the military doesn't use Intel stuff for their digital flight control or weapons control systems. Can you imagine a pilot cranking through a 9G turn when a message appears on the screen saying "Please call Intel for your new FPU password". Or how about an Intel processor running a respirator? Imagine the anesthesiologist giving a patient a nudge, "Got a quarter, I have to phone Intel for some more FLOPS". Surely this isn't deja vu from April Fool's day? -- Daryl Morse | Voice : (604) 293-5476 MPR Teltech Ltd. | Fax : (604) 293-5787 8999 Nelson Way, Burnaby, BC | E-Mail: morse@quark.mpr.ca Canada, V5A 4B5 | quark.mpr.ca!morse@uunet.uu.net