🚀 go-pugleaf

> Question: is it possible to identify in software the type of processor
> a program is running on (assuming MS-DOS here...)?  I would like to
> know whether it's an 8088, 8086, 80188, 80186 or an 80286.  If it
> is possible, how do I do it?

Yes, it is possible, at least to distinguish between {8086|8088},
{80186|80188}, and 80286 flavors of processors.  The 8086 (and the 8088,
I guess) don't mask shift counts, so if you shift a 2 in AX by a number
of places greater than 16 (?or 32, maybe -- 32 works for sure) you'll
get a zero.  On the 186 and 286 you'll get a non-zero value.  To
distinguish between the 186 and the 286, do a PUSH SP, pop it into
another register and compare it.  The 186 pushes the SP value *after*
it's been decremented, the 286 pushes the SP value *before* it's
decremented.

I don't know if you can tell if you're on a *8 or *6 version processor,
though.

Good luck!
Kevin Dack
..ctvax!trsvax!kevin