Development, round II

From: Philip.Belben_at_powertech.co.uk <(Philip.Belben_at_powertech.co.uk)>
Date: Fri Jan 30 06:34:43 1998

I started a lot of debate when I wrote:

> Worth a try then. But am I right in thinking that the AT doesn't
> implement all the 286 modes properly? I'm sure the XT286 doesn't.

The two rumours I had heard are thus:

1. The AT had been deliberately set up so that it couldn't make one of
the transitions between modes - IBM were being paranoid and thinking of
crackers having a back door - but this "feature" was removed in the
PS/2.

This is obviously a garbled version of the things you've all been
telling me about 286s and the AT having to reset itself from time to
time. Thank you for clearing this up.

2. Intel had a fault on a large batch of 286s that couldn't do some of
the things you'd expect. IBM bought a job lot on the cheap and stuck
them in XT286s.

Can anyone tell me the origin of this latter rumour? Has it now been
discredited?

BTW What is Warp? Is it the OS/2 windowing system? If so, why would I
want to use it at all, let alone on a 286? ;-)

Philip.

PS *** Off Topic ***

I stand corrected. Uncle Roger is quite right about triangular manhole
covers. However I don't know whether this still holds up (pun intended)
if you have rounded corners and a thickness that is not negligible as
well as the lip to support the cover in its normal position.

I don't intend to try it to find out. Whoever posted that rather silly
message about System/36 was right - this discussion has probably gone on
too long.

I will leave you with a thought: Make the cover a triangle, but with
the sides arcs of circles centred on the opposite corner. (This works
for any odd number of sides, like the 50p coin I mentioned earlier)

P.
Received on Fri Jan 30 1998 - 06:34:43 GMT