Re: SGI files for chapter 11

In article <XO%8g.2$54.545@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Michael D. Ober" <obermd.@.alum.mit.edu.nospam> writes:


"JF Mezei" <jfmezei.spamnot@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:446395FE.61195AC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Malcolm Dunnett wrote:
However that same thinking suggested that the 80x86 architecture
could
never keep up either and was doomed. I'm not a chip designer, but Intel
certainly seems to have found ways to get those speed enhancements
without
sacrificing binary compatibility.

That is because the 8086's instruction set was much simpler than VAX's.
Intel didn't steal Vax tricks for its 8086, they stole Alpha tricks to
embed into the 8086.


Since the 8086/8088 processors were on the market long before the Alpha was
even on the drawing board, you must mean Intel "stole" from the Alpha for
later processors. Actually, the 8086 to 80286 were partially based on the
IBM mainframe processors. You could even go so far as to write emulation
code on the 8086 that was nearly a one-to-one match for the BAL instruction
set IBM designed.

Which may be what gave us the PC-370. Boy I wish I had a couple of them for
my collection!!

bill

--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
bill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
.

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