Intel iAPX 432 (was Re: final brainteaser for the day)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Tue Jun 25 12:32:02 2002

>>> I was thinking of unix style OS's. The 286 was the first intel cpu
>>> with some sort of real memory managment.
>>
>> If you don't count the iAPX 432. (And most people don't.)
>
> Well what was it?

Maybe your friend Google knows? :-)

Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor, announced in 1980 and first
shipped in 1981. The 432 was object-oriented, implemented kernel
primitives such as memory and process management in microcode, offered
nearly glueless SMP support, and had support for redundancy and
fault-tolerance.
The main CPU was called the General Data Processor (GDP), and consisted of
two chips, the 43201 instruction unit and the 43202 execution unit. The
original plan called for an I/O Processor, but that was replaced by the
43203 Interface Processor (IP), which was not a processor in the
conventional sense of the word. The IP acted as a proxy into the 432
world for a more conventional I/O processor.

The 8086 was developed as a stopgap measure because the 432 program
(originally to be known as the 8800) was several years behind schedule.
Most 432 systems used 8086 or 8088 processors in the I/O subsystems.

http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/intel/iapx432/
Received on Tue Jun 25 2002 - 12:32:02 BST

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