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From: paul@hpfclp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.68k
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <10500002@hpfclp.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Aug-84 13:12:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: hpfclp.10500002
Posted: Sun Aug 12 13:12:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Aug-84 03:28:10 EDT
References: <-159300@sun.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:sun:-159300:hpfclp:10500002:37777777600:640
Nf-From: hpfclp!paul    Aug 20 12:12:00 1984


Although  I  really  do  admire  the  interface,  I'll  bet it is a real
*nightmare*  to emulate.  I would also  venture to say that the software
emulation is slow (although maybe not as bad as Intel's 8087 emulation).

The  coprocessor  concept  is  really  nice, but the  complexity  of the
interface  and the  slowness  of  possible  emulations  make  it  almost
mandatory that a system have one (i.e.  a 68881).

It's ironic how  coprocessors  (in general) are designed to be optional,
but systems without them must have exceedingly complex software.


Paul Beiser
Hewlett-Packard   Ft. Collins, Colorado
...{ihnp4,hplabs}!hpfcla!paul