Re: Segmentation in real mode

From: Herbert Kleebauer (klee_at_unibwm.de)
Date: 03/21/05 

Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 11:56:26 +0100

Beth wrote:
> Herbert Kleebauer wrote:

> > The x86 was a clever design! Intel made the 8086 source code compatible
> > to it's 8 bit processor, Motorola made a complete new 16/32 bit design
> > (the superior 68k processor) and we know who won the match.

> Specifically: What "attribute" can you _NAME_ the the original 8086 had
> that the 68K didn't? You know, everything happens for a _REASON_, so if you
> are right, then we can directly locate that _REASON_...what's in the 8086
> that isn't in the 68K that would make the difference? Nothing, in
> fact...the 68K is arguably the nicer, cleaner design...

> Design-wise, in fact, the 8086 is nothing special, with a few crap features
> in it here and there...remove your rose-tinted glasses and take another
> look to see this :)...

You again misunderstood me. I also think that the 68k was far superior (not
only the hardware, but also the assembler syntax) and I really liked it if
the 68k had won the battle (in opposite to all the other people here, I at
least use the 68k syntax for programming the x86). Not the better but the
more clever design wins. The 8086 was an evolution (and improvement) of the
8080/Z80 whereas the 68k was a revolution, breaking with the 8 bit history.
And it's not always the revolution which wins, sometimes a steady evolution
is superior. It seems not even Intel is able to kill the x86. AMD's 64 bit
evolution seems to win against Intel's 64 bit revolution. Now even Microsoft
tries a revolution: there is no 16 bit sub system planed for the 64 bit
Windows and I really hope, that they also will not succeed (I like the
DOS 16 bit com format).

> > And I don't
> > think the x86 won only because IBM used this processor in the PC.
>
> The 68K was used by pretty much everyone else and enjoyed great
> success...

Where is the "success"? Motorola even stopped further development
of the 68k and tried a new beginning with the PowerPC, whereas the
evolution of the x86 is still going on.
 

> The 8086 won because it was in the PC...

Are you really sure? Remember the days of the Apple II. The Z80
card was very popular. Not because the Z80 was superior to the
6502 but because there were many 8080/Z80 systems in use and
you could use the Apple II as cheap development platform for those
systems. You couldn't do this with the 68k in the Mac but with the
8088 in the IBM PC. Don't know what had happened if IBM used a 68k
or Apple used a 8086, maybe in both cases we now would all use an
Apple.

 
> The success of the 8086 has nothing to do with the chip itself...it is to
> do with "name association" to the very popular 8080 before it...it has to
> do with being put into the PC system...

The evolution beats the revolution (not from a technical point, but
from a marketing point).

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