Re: question
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Re: question
If this kinda thing interests you, pick up a copy of this month's
Scientific American - there's a good cover story in it about some really
fascinating chip technology.
On Sun, 13 Jul 1997, barrym wrote:
> Reinier Zwitserloot (R.Zwitserloot@btinternet.com) wrote:
> :
> : See, every processor has one language. They can't have more than 1. Heh,
> : not quite true.. the i486, for example, knows 3. Real, V86, and protected.
> : But they are really all part of one: i486. (It just happends that i486
> : contains all the commands the i86 had..) So, a deassembler for the i486
> : will take it and disassemble it into the appropriate i486 Machine Code
>
> A processor was developed a few years ago that could function as either
> an 80486 or a 68040 depending on it's mode. It containted everything
> necessary to function either way. I don't have a lot of detail on this
> but I do know that it existed. It was developed by the same guy that
> developed the 4004 for Intel. It was done by a Japanese company with the
> idea that a computer could be built that could run both Mac and PC software
> and not with emulation.
>
> I don't know what happened to this. Maybe the pentium or Power PC put
> them out of the market or maybe they didn't have financing but the chip
> did exist according to several articles I read including some by those
> who had tested samples.
>
> I'm not trying to prove you wrong. This is an oddball thing and it seems
> it wasn't very successful, but it did exist and I thought you might
> find it interesting.
>
> Barry
>
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