Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/13/84; site intelca.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!gatech!seismo!lll-crg!qantel!intelca!kds From: kds@intelca.UUCP (Ken Shoemaker) Newsgroups: net.arch Subject: Re: Re: What if IBM had chosen the 68000 Message-ID: <149@intelca.UUCP> Date: Fri, 6-Dec-85 21:23:19 EST Article-I.D.: intelca.149 Posted: Fri Dec 6 21:23:19 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 8-Dec-85 03:25:51 EST References: <458@looking.UUCP> <1000006@uicsrd> <286@l5.uucp> Organization: Intel, Santa Clara, Ca. Lines: 49 > Choosing the 68000 versus the 80286, as in the IBM PC/AT, there is no > cost issue. On the original IBM Feces, this would have been harder to Not so if you want to add memory management and protection... > You can also translate 8080 to 68000 assembler, and it's not all that > hard. The hard part is emulating the flags on arithmetic operations. This is really about the only thing in the 8086 that is compatible with the 8085. > > > >>3) 68000 programs are a lot larger than 8086 programs... > > See other notes. Please show your benchmarks. I have yet to see a 68000 > > Unix box that runs reasonably with much less than 1 meg of ram. I used > > to own a Z-8000 Unix machine (ONYX) that was a very reasonable single user > > system with 256K and a 3 user system with 512K. > > What does that have to do with the difference between 68Ks and 8088s? > > > Coherent ran at PDP-11 > > levels on an IBM-PC with an 8088! > Coherent is not Unix. OS/9 does this too, on 6809s. But then again, so does xenix and venix run on an 8088... > > > Xenix on the 286 performs at a similar > > level to 68000 systems costing more than twice as much, and can do it with > > less memory. > > Unix on Fortune 68000 systems performs at a similar level to Intel 286 MDS Last I looked, I could get an AT clone for <$5000, and run xenix on it... How someone can claim that a 68k with an external MMU is cheaper than a 286 with in internal MMU...don't forget board cost! BTW, is Fortune still in business? > consider this: If IBM *had* picked the 68000, who could all us 68k > fans feel superior to? Probably Motorola feces (:-)) -- yes, some uncomplicated peoples still believe this myth... Ken Shoemaker, Santa Clara, Ca. {pur-ee,hplabs,amd,scgvaxd,dual,qantel}!intelca!kds ---the above views are personal.