Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site spar.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!decwrl!spar!freeman From: freeman@spar.UUCP (Jay Freeman) Newsgroups: net.arch Subject: Re to the nth: 286 vs. 68k Message-ID: <328@spar.UUCP> Date: Thu, 13-Jun-85 14:15:12 EDT Article-I.D.: spar.328 Posted: Thu Jun 13 14:15:12 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 18-Jun-85 06:04:19 EDT References: <675@dataio.UUCP> <195@tut.UUCP> <10148@rochester.UUCP> Reply-To: freeman@max.UUCP (Jay Freeman) Organization: Schlumberger Palo Alto Research, CA Lines: 35 Summary: [] >I find the discussion at least a little informative. It's so hard to keep facts from leaking through when you're trying to flame. >I like seeing people who seem to know discuss the rational behind the design >for the 8086. I conjecture that the major motivation was to hit the market soonest with a microprocessor that was a healthy step up in performance over the "classic" eight-bit-data, sixteen-bit-address designs: It would appear that segments add address-space without requiring wider registers and data-paths, while "special-purpose" registers add at least some processing power without using too much silicon. And less silicon leads to lower cost and earlier production. Of course, the primary issue for this newsgroup has to do with the abstract merits of the various architectures, rather than the positions in time and in the marketplace of the various specific microprocessors. But the issue of how best to make use of resources -- in this case square microns of silicon -- is certainly an important one. And the fact that there can be a case made at all, that the 27000-transistor 8086 is in the same class as the 68000-transistor 68000, is an enormous compliment to the ingenuity of the 8086 design. >These notes are clearly marked by the subject line. When I get bored of this >discussion I'll stop reading them. Then we can start debating the merits of the 432. >I say: keep them here where we can keep an eye on them. Are you sure you want to know? :-) -- Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer)