Subject: Re: What is Tasty ISO?
From: nathan r. hruby (nhruby@arches.uga.edu)
Date: Wed Nov 14 2001 - 08:24:46 MST
On Wed, 14 Nov 2001, Jeroen Diederen wrote:
> what is x86 ?
>
x86 = Intel based hardware (aka: PC, wintel, ia32)
A mac would be "ppc" (Short for PowerPC)
<history mode="light">
The "x86" moniker comes from the original maning scheme of Intels
chips. The first one being the 8088, then the 8086, 80286, 80836
(first intel chip to operate in protected mode), 80486 (first intel chip
to have onboard FPU), 80586 (Pentium), 80686 (Pentium Pro), 80786 (PII),
etc... Since all of these chips are essentially binary compatible, the
common name for them was the "x86" platform, which is typically meant to
mean the 486 up to the latest Pentium IV Xenons. This does not cover
the ia64 (aka: Itanium) chip series, which is much different. x86 was,
for a while, a degoratory term given to the platform by those with MIPS,
SPARC and other more "big iron" processors, hence Intels more
politically correct "ia32" nomencleature once it started publicly
developing the Itanium chips, known as ia64. "ia" in ia[64|32] =
"Intel Architecture"
</history>
-n
-- ...... nathan hruby - nhruby@arches.uga.edu computer support specialist department of drama and theatre http://www.drama.uga.edu/ ......
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