Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Path: utzoo!telly!problem!skypod!scott
From: scott@skypod.uucp (Scott Campbell)
Subject: Re: When will the 8088 die?
Message-ID: <1990Dec5.231355.20546@skypod.uucp>
Organization: Skypod Communications Inc., Toronto, Ontario
References: <90335.202651F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> <1990Dec3.024326.22956@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca> <9917@jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 90 23:13:55 GMT

In article <9917@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> rspangle@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Froot Loop) writes:
>In article <1990Dec3.024326.22956@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca> mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel) writes:
>>In article <90335.202651F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> F0O@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>>>    I also hope that when Intel designs the 686 chip, it will be backward
>>>compatible to the 286, not the 8088(the 586 will be backward compatible to
>>>the 8088).  I'm not sure how easy this would be to do, since the 286
>>>instruction set is a superset of the 8088, but I do think the 286 should be
>>>the base for the 686 and up.
>
>     I think it would make much more sense to make the 686 backwards 
>compatible only as far back as the 386.  The 286 does not allow full
>multitasking, etc.

If the 686 was FULLY compatible with the 386 it would be able to emulate the
8086 (how different is the 8086 from the 8088) in Virtual '86 mode, right?
Any old 8/16 bit programs you have would be able to work in a DOS window in
whatever software you are using...

Anyways, just because the 8088 is too slow for serious processing, its fine
if all you are going to do is run a terminal session and maybe some personal
utilities (notepads, datebooks, etc.)  Hook this up to a multiuser system
where you would do any serious processing.  An old XT  can be cheaper than a
terminal, especially if it is still lying around from before you got faster
machines.

Another thing to think of in killing off the low end intel chips is that
other people are allowed to make them.  Not so with the 386.  Whether you
consider being limited to one supplier as a Good Thing or a Bad Thing could
be a consideration.

scott
a
-- 
Scott J.M. Campbell                                       scott@skypod.uucp
Skypod Communications Inc.                                   (416) 961-3847
57 Charles St. West, #1310              nyama!skypod!scott@epas.utoronto.ca
Toronto, Ontario           {scocan|becker|problem|torag|nyama}!skypod!scott
