Decimal V Binary??

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Sat Oct 9 23:07:21 2004

>> I've always wondered what systems/processors (other than IBM
>> mainframes) that had hardware decimal arithmetic support.

The VAX has packed decimal arithmetic instructions. Depending on which
VAX, they may be microcoded or they may just trap to the OS for
"macrocoded" emulation (of course the OS may choose to error out
instead of bothering).

I don't know of any VAX that does them in non-microcoded hardware, and
am inclined to doubt such a beast exists.

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Received on Sat Oct 09 2004 - 23:07:21 BST

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