Re: [EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC] Re: [?] Why should Distros be called as i386 for a 32-bit PC, and as amd64 for a 64-bit PC, when Intel Core PCs are also 64bit systems
On Monday 15 March 2021 08:53:46 Joe wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Mar 2021 12:34:42 +0100
>
> Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> wrote:
> > tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:
> > > On Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 11:09:35AM +0100, Sven Hartge wrote:
> > >> Another rumor I read was that IBM, when developing the first IBM
> > >> PC in 1980, opted to use the 8086/8088 CPU instead of the also
> > >> availble M68k CPU because the Intel one was less powerful so it
> > >> would not be in competition with the mainframes the PC was
> > >> supposed to interface with primarily.
> > >
> > > Too lazy to research now, but it sounds credible, yes.
> > >
> > >> If this rumor is true and IBM had acted differently, the PC
> > >> ecosystem today would also look quite differently.
> > >
> > > Or the Z8000. Absolutely. 8086 was, architecturally, the worst
> > > possible choice at that time.
> >
> > Having had a 68k would have been awesome. No stupid memory
> > segmentation, 32bit instructions and internal address size, 24bit
> > external address size.
> >
> > Imagine a PC with 4GB adressable memory space in 1980.
>
> I can. It would have cost as much as a mainframe to make full use of
> it.
No it wouldn't, and we had it by the late '80's with the advent of 68040
abd 68060 accellerator boards for the Amiga's. But that flat memory
model and poor production QC doomed it. Any program could make a
missfire and write into another programs memory space, crashing the
whole Mary Ann. Then Commode-door brought out a 68060 board for the
4000's. Major failure because that $1600, 4 square inches of pcb, had
every electrolytic capacitor installed in reverse polarity. Too damned
compact to be easily fixed, but I did two of them anyway.
Yup, I am a card carrying CET. What else could I do?
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>
Reply to: