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From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: 386
Message-ID: <1232@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-May-85 03:29:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdcad.1232
Posted: Fri May  3 03:29:18 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 4-May-85 00:11:53 EDT
References: <2140@seismo.UUCP> <38800002@ima.UUCP>
Organization: AMDCAD, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 31

In article <38800002@ima.UUCP>, johnl@ima.UUCP writes:
> Rumor has it that Intel had a lot of trouble getting the 286
> to work and still can't make them as fast as they'd like; the 386 can only
> be worse.

A little birdy told me Intel now has 80286s that run at 12.5 MHz. Since the
286 has a 2 clock bus cycle one could argue that is as fast as a 25 MHz
68000, in some sense. But I know I would get flamed if I did, so I won't.
Another rumor I heard is that the 80186 was developed the old fashioned
way (with tape?) while the 80286 was developed with extensive CAD. The
use of CAD was so successful that they really went whole-hog with CAD on
the 386. Take this with a large grain of salt.

Anyway, AMD has 10 MHz 80186s so maybe Intel should let us produce the 386 :-)

> really sincerely hope that Intel gets the 386 to work soon, and that IBM 
> instantly puts it into a desktop computer that is so wildly successful that 
> nobody ever thinks about running code on a 286 or 8088 again, and that small 
> and energetic businesses build machines based thereon for under $1000, 
> including a 100MB disk drive and 16MB or RAM, and give me one for free for 
> suggesting it.  But somehow, I doubt it.  

I hear that the 386 will come in a 132 pin PGA, which can't be cheap.
32 address lines, 32 data lines, and a few other pins. (68 power and ground
pins :-)
-- 
 I speak for myself and no one else.

 Phil Ngai (408) 749-5720
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