Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: net.arch Subject: Re: Re to the nth: 286 vs. 68k Message-ID: <5695@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Tue, 18-Jun-85 13:02:12 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.5695 Posted: Tue Jun 18 13:02:12 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 18-Jun-85 13:02:12 EDT References: <675@dataio.UUCP> <195@tut.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 13 > Thus perhaps the properties of the 8086 are partly the result of this > attempt at upward compatibility [with the 8080/8085] ... What "partly"?!? The properties of the 8086 are almost entirely the result of trying to make the thing upward compatible with the 8085 (which was an upward-compatible upgrade of the 8080, which was an upward- compatible upgrade of the 8008). And the rest of them are the result of the decision -- for reasons of chip area and inertia -- to forget about a 32-bit architecture and go for 16 (whence the deranged MMU design, to try to squeeze a few more address bits into a 16-bit architecture). -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry