[sdiy] Chip ID

[Don Tillman]

   > Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 00:54:21 +0930
   > From: "Batz Goodfortune" <batzman at all-electric.com>
   > 
   > I never really thought about how the legacy actually goes all the way back 
   > to the 4004. That's funny when I think about it because it's so
   > true. 

[...]

   > So when you look at the architecture of the 8088/86 it looks strangely like 
   > an 8 bit processor with tacked on bits. Which is essentially what it is. 
   > The instruction set is remarkably similar. Everything. 

[...]

   > The irony of all this is that these legacies dog us to this day. 

I always believed that the very reason IBM chose the Intel 8086
microprocessor for the PC was that its legacy-oriented design matched
IBM's legacy-oriented product line (the 360/370 series mainframes were
software compatible over a wide range of models).

So I think the real irony is that without that heavily compromised
architecture, the product line might not even exist today. (!!!)

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com