Classic != IBM AT

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Thu Nov 5 19:07:42 1998

On Thu, 5 Nov 1998, Roger Merchberger wrote:

> Yes, to say that the 8088 and 8086 were the same is incorrect, but they
> _basically_ had the same core and everything... it was just the data bus
> was 8 bit on the 8088 and 16-bit on the 8086. They were fully compatible
> program-wise, just that the 8086 was faster as it could push 2x data over
> the 8088.
>
> Comparing the 80386 and the Pentium wouldn't be fair, tho. Comparing the
> 80386SX (with the 16-bit data bus) and the 80386DX (with the 32-bit data
> bus) would be a lot better comparison... as again, the chips were fully
> compatible, but the DX's were faster due to the larger data bus.
>
> Just the way I seem to remember it...
 
Do I not recall correctly that the 8088 was in fact half of a two chip
set and that the 8086 was 'self contained', and that IBM elected to not use
the other half.
                                                 - don
Received on Thu Nov 05 1998 - 19:07:42 GMT