Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!west!central!digi!jgay
From: jgay@digi.lonestar.org (john gay)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Where's the i860? (was Re: 486SX - Intel now telling lies)
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.214105.490@digi.lonestar.org>
Date: 3 Jun 91 21:41:05 GMT
References: <1991Jun2.235352.22873@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Organization: none
Lines: 27

From article <1991Jun2.235352.22873@rodan.acs.syr.edu>, by amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen):
> In article <30379@hydra.gatech.EDU> hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) writes:
> ...a whole bunch of people said stuff....
> 
>    Actually, a whole slew of products are starting to hit the market using
> the i860 in PostScript aplications.  PS accelerators for laserprinters,
> PS engines for new laserprinters, PS interpreters for output or display 
> applications.  While this is a far cry from what you intended, it better
> than....

Actually, I think (from reading in EE Times) that these are all/most based
on the i960.  My understanding (also from the EE Times article) is that
intel has declared/stated/whatever that the i960 is for sale for embedded
products (printers and whatever), the i860 is for co-processor applications
(math and graphics), and the i486 is for general purpose cpu apps.  Intel
is strongly discouraging the use of the i860 as a general purpose cpu
because it will cut deeply into the cash cow of i[34]86 chips.

BTW, in a column in a recent EE Times someone (I forget who, but he puts
out a newsletter about the chip industry) estimated that intel has shipped
9 million 386 chips to date.  I think that they have recouped their R&D
for the 386 chip by now (and probably for the 486 as well).

-- 

john gay.
jgay@digi.lonestar.org