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the 8086 processor
- Thread starter tonyjob
- Start date
It's an 8 bit processor, built around 1979/80, and in mass production in computers around 1982 or so. It's THE original Intel (well, almost, they built the 8080 before that), and took the market by storm. The only competition it had was the Zilog Z80 (made by a bunch of disgruntled Intel employees).
Found in all original AT (you remember the old IBM?) boxes, as well as a bunch that have long since vanished (Zenith, Osborne, Datatrain, to name a few).
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Current moderator at
Staff contributor/moderator at
Windows 9x/ME instructor.
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Found in all original AT (you remember the old IBM?) boxes, as well as a bunch that have long since vanished (Zenith, Osborne, Datatrain, to name a few).
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Current moderator at
Staff contributor/moderator at
Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:
CitrixEngineer
Technical User
The speed of this processor is 4.77 Mhz, and it uses an 8-bit ISA bus.
Believe it or not, it's the basis of the current Intel chip range. The series runs:
8086 - 8 bit processor, 4.77 Mhz
8088 - I can't really remember the difference, but I think this chip could use a 16-bit ISA bus by double-pumping 8-bit code. Both chips could address 1,024k (1Mb) RAM.
80186 (found in teletext machines)
80286 - a 16-bit processor, and the first, I believe, to use a separate FPU. It uses a 16-bit ISA bus and can address up to 16Mb RAM. Typically runs at 8-15Mhz
80386 - the much-touted 32-bit chip, which could run programs in protected mode. Typically runs from 16-40Mhz
80486 - This and the 80386 came in SX and DX forms. The DX had an integrated FPU. Several new buses were built for this processor, including VESA Local Bus and PCI - both 32-bit busses. Typically runs at 25-33 Mhz, but some were clock-doubled, ie DX-2/66 is a clock-doubled 33Mhz chip, and some were trebled (confusingly DX-4/100 is a clock-trebled 33Mhz chip!)
80586 (or pentium, since Intel "needed" to trademark it's products' name, and found it couldn't trademark a number!). From 60-233 Mhz
80686 (or pentium pro) - This chip included a cache on the same die as the processor. The disadvantage with this chip was, due to its architecture, it couldn't handle 16-bit code very well. Hence it tends to be found in NT servers. 150-200Mhz
The 80586 has been superceded by the Pentium II, Celeron, Pentium III, Klamath and Coppermine processors. 233Mhz-1.5Ghz
The 80686 has been superceded by the Pentium II and III Xeons. 400Mhz-c.1Ghz, and the on-board cache has been increased to 2Mb.
Merced is next, the first 64-bit processor from Intel. Although Motorola have been making 64-bit processors for some time now...
I hope this information is of interest - and of use to you!
Believe it or not, it's the basis of the current Intel chip range. The series runs:
8086 - 8 bit processor, 4.77 Mhz
8088 - I can't really remember the difference, but I think this chip could use a 16-bit ISA bus by double-pumping 8-bit code. Both chips could address 1,024k (1Mb) RAM.
80186 (found in teletext machines)
80286 - a 16-bit processor, and the first, I believe, to use a separate FPU. It uses a 16-bit ISA bus and can address up to 16Mb RAM. Typically runs at 8-15Mhz
80386 - the much-touted 32-bit chip, which could run programs in protected mode. Typically runs from 16-40Mhz
80486 - This and the 80386 came in SX and DX forms. The DX had an integrated FPU. Several new buses were built for this processor, including VESA Local Bus and PCI - both 32-bit busses. Typically runs at 25-33 Mhz, but some were clock-doubled, ie DX-2/66 is a clock-doubled 33Mhz chip, and some were trebled (confusingly DX-4/100 is a clock-trebled 33Mhz chip!)
80586 (or pentium, since Intel "needed" to trademark it's products' name, and found it couldn't trademark a number!). From 60-233 Mhz
80686 (or pentium pro) - This chip included a cache on the same die as the processor. The disadvantage with this chip was, due to its architecture, it couldn't handle 16-bit code very well. Hence it tends to be found in NT servers. 150-200Mhz
The 80586 has been superceded by the Pentium II, Celeron, Pentium III, Klamath and Coppermine processors. 233Mhz-1.5Ghz
The 80686 has been superceded by the Pentium II and III Xeons. 400Mhz-c.1Ghz, and the on-board cache has been increased to 2Mb.
Merced is next, the first 64-bit processor from Intel. Although Motorola have been making 64-bit processors for some time now...
I hope this information is of interest - and of use to you!
Gentlemen: seems, you are very young folks !
Intel 8086 and Intel 8088 are both internally full 16-bit processors.
First chip sets about 1977, including the coprocessor, DMA-processor,
I/O-processor, Interrupt controller ....
8088 is externally 8 bit, for cheap motherboards.
8086 has 20 bit address-lines and 16 bit data-lines.
20 bit address means direct access to 1 MByte memory.
This was the first generation for Protected Mode Operating Systems,
a great invention: If one task is stopped because of an Exception,
the software knows EVERYTHING about this event, can give PRECISE
information to the user and then continue with other tasks.
Unfortunately Bill Gates had never understood this idea - he believes,
that a computer should crash in the case of an Exception.
Exceptions are mainly: Access to protected memory.
Coprocessor floating point errors - if not masked.
--------G.Hoffmann
Intel 8086 and Intel 8088 are both internally full 16-bit processors.
First chip sets about 1977, including the coprocessor, DMA-processor,
I/O-processor, Interrupt controller ....
8088 is externally 8 bit, for cheap motherboards.
8086 has 20 bit address-lines and 16 bit data-lines.
20 bit address means direct access to 1 MByte memory.
This was the first generation for Protected Mode Operating Systems,
a great invention: If one task is stopped because of an Exception,
the software knows EVERYTHING about this event, can give PRECISE
information to the user and then continue with other tasks.
Unfortunately Bill Gates had never understood this idea - he believes,
that a computer should crash in the case of an Exception.
Exceptions are mainly: Access to protected memory.
Coprocessor floating point errors - if not masked.
--------G.Hoffmann
CitrixEngineer
Technical User
I believe this link will give the most informative (and reliable) information available on the internet on this topic.
I would like to thank everyone who has posted to this topic, thus prompting me to look for this information; I've certainly learned a lot from this exercise!
Any points I made that this article contradicts I must put down to misinformation I have been given in the past. I had no idea that the 80186 had an 80188 counterpart, and that the processors were so popular - and fast!
Zefir, one point that you made is contradicted by the Dr Dobbs article - that protected mode was introduced with the 8086 chip. I had always heard that this was not until the 80286, as this article would seem to confirm.
I am interested in the source of your information, as I am now very aware of some of Intel's secrecy policies.
Thanks in advance.
Citrix: though I didn´t check this actually:
you are certainly right, the protected mode came later.
I confused this with Multitasking (this was provided).
And once again telling my opinion about Windowbill.....
Thankful for any feedback: G.Hoffmann
you are certainly right, the protected mode came later.
I confused this with Multitasking (this was provided).
And once again telling my opinion about Windowbill.....
Thankful for any feedback: G.Hoffmann
CitrixEngineer
Technical User
Update:
This topic has really interested me, and I thought that many of this forum's members would be interested in the results of my research.
comtech, you were nearly right with the 8080 being Intel's first processor - in fact, the first successful processor Intel produced, and the first the world saw, was the 4004, which was developed for a calculator company,called Busicom, which later folded. But not before Intel had bought back the rights to the processor and patented it in 1974. This is the true ancestor of the ubiquitous x86 processor.
The 4004 was launched in November 1971, runs at 108KHz (not MHz!), has a 4-bit data bus and can access a whopping 4,096 bytes of RAM. It could run 8-bit instructions, but at a 50% performance hit to the clock cycle.
It was later used in the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
The 8008 followed, which ran at 200Khz and was the first processor to utilise interrupts.
Its successor was the 8080, running at 2Mhz. It could process 16-bits of data at once.
I hope this is useful and/or interesting to someone!
This topic has really interested me, and I thought that many of this forum's members would be interested in the results of my research.
comtech, you were nearly right with the 8080 being Intel's first processor - in fact, the first successful processor Intel produced, and the first the world saw, was the 4004, which was developed for a calculator company,called Busicom, which later folded. But not before Intel had bought back the rights to the processor and patented it in 1974. This is the true ancestor of the ubiquitous x86 processor.
The 4004 was launched in November 1971, runs at 108KHz (not MHz!), has a 4-bit data bus and can access a whopping 4,096 bytes of RAM. It could run 8-bit instructions, but at a 50% performance hit to the clock cycle.
It was later used in the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
The 8008 followed, which ran at 200Khz and was the first processor to utilise interrupts.
Its successor was the 8080, running at 2Mhz. It could process 16-bits of data at once.
I hope this is useful and/or interesting to someone!
To add a little info. The 8008 was used by several terminal manufacturers as the controller chip. I ran across it in Delta terminals. It was also used as the cpu in the first kit built computer. But I forget the name.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
CitrixEngineer
Technical User
Intellec-80 is the name of the first computer the 8008 was used in. I'm not sure if it was a kit or not, though.
It was among the first to utilise a floppy disk (8 1/2"
, and used a control program called CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputer). It enabled the reading and writing of files to and from the disk. The commands and file-naming conventions were copied from the DEC PDP-10 VMS operating system.
The system was later used on Commodore microcomputers, and a BASIC interpreter for the system was later created.
It was among the first to utilise a floppy disk (8 1/2"
, and used a control program called CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputer). It enabled the reading and writing of files to and from the disk. The commands and file-naming conventions were copied from the DEC PDP-10 VMS operating system.The system was later used on Commodore microcomputers, and a BASIC interpreter for the system was later created.
FYI, CP/M is a DOS, not a "control program" in that sense. CP/M is a full blown disk operating system, however, it was never developed enough to handle hard drives, just floppys, and was successfully sold with many integrated systems, such as Zenith, Osborne, K-Pro, and more (circa ~1980). I used it on my original homebuilt (dual 8 1/2" floppys, Zilog Z-80 processor, 16K RAM). Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Moderator at Staff at Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com
Moderator at Staff at Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:
After slapping the side of the head enough, the kit build was Mark8.
And if Gary Kildall hadn't wanted to go flying on teh day IBM came to Digital Research to talk about using CP/M in the PC we would be using a totally different operating system today. Maybe a GUI that wouldn't crash.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
And if Gary Kildall hadn't wanted to go flying on teh day IBM came to Digital Research to talk about using CP/M in the PC we would be using a totally different operating system today. Maybe a GUI that wouldn't crash.
Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.
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