Article View: comp.arch
Article #21867Re: IBM PC prehistory (was Japanese Jos
From: gillies
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1989 17:30
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 1989 17:30
17 lines
1403 bytes
1403 bytes
/* Written 4:40 pm Dec 26, 1989 by bruceh@brushwud.sgi.com in comp.arch */ > As I recall, both the '86 & the '88 have multiplexed address & data busses, > so they are identical packages, and they must have almost identical dies. > I can't believe Intel priced them so differently. If you look back at the history of the introduction of 16/8-bit processors (8086/88 & 68000/8), in both cases the 8-bit processor cost about HALF as much as the prevailing cost for the 16-bit processor, when the 8-bit processor was introduced. This is because the 8-bit processor is a "microcontroller", and the 16-bit processor is a "CPU". Pricing has very little to do with production costs -- it has more to do with the marketplace and the demand for the processor. The 8-bit processor is certainly *not* a state-of-the-art processor. Think: How much does a 386SX cost compared to a vanilla '386?
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<76700100@p.cs.uiuc.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dino!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gilliesReferences:
<21559@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!dino!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: IBM PC prehistory (was Japanese Jos Message-ID: <76700100@p.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 29 Dec 89 17:30:18 GMT References: <21559@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Lines: 17 Nf-ID: #R:uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU:21559:p.cs.uiuc.edu:76700100:000:889 Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies Dec 28 12:57:00 1989