🚀 go-pugleaf

In <40ljas$lfn@eken.hv.se> henke@hv.se (Henrik Wetterström) writes:

>Hmm... I always thought 8088 was only 8-bit, but I guess you know better (looking at
>your emailaddress...). However, I was tought bitness is usually an ambitious description,
>but with false 32-bit do we mean a processor with 32 bit internal architecture but using
>only 16 (or less) bits for datatransfer. A true 32-bit processor uses 32 bits both internally
>and for datatransfer. By this definition is 68000 a false 32-bit, while 68020 is a true 32-bit.
>I'm a bit uncertain about intel's circuits, but you get the point. 

Then, how about the Pentium, which is a 32-bit architecture with a 64-bit
data bus?

The size of the data bus is pretty irrelevant to the bitness of a processor.
The sizes of the general purpose registers _and_ the ALU are the important
factors.  This is what makes the 8088 a 16-bit cpu, the 386SX and the
Pentium 32-bit cpu's and the 68000 so difficult to define :-) 

Dan
--
Dan Pop
CERN, CN Division
Email: Dan.Pop@mail.cern.ch 
Mail:  CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland