Re: Identifying CPU and current OS
On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 04:14:53PM -0000, Greg wrote:
> I also believed there were actually two types of widths: the data bus
> width, and the CPU architecture width, and that the two didn't
> necessarily have to match.
+1
A great example of that was the Motorola M68000 series of processors, it was a
serious contender for "the" CPU to be used in the 1980s. Logically (ie from the
programming PoV) it was 32 bit but physically (ie looking at how it connected
to the mother board) it was 8, 16, 32 bit - depending on how much you wanted to
pay for the system.
It, unfortunately, lost out to Intel with nasty segmented architecture. Partly,
IMHO, as Intel had one memory architecture whereas Motorola has several.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000_series
> But now we're far astray, n'est-ce pas?
>
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Alain Williams
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