Walter Bright wrote: > Don wrote: >> I'd say it's not a problem to use MMX or even SSE1. It's really, really >> difficult to find a processor that doesn't support them. I've tried. >> I've really tried. I don't think many are still around: they all have >> motherboards which require really small hard disks that you can no >> longer buy. Certainly no-one is putting new software on them. >> Earlier this year I had to install Windows3.1 (!!!) on an ancient PC at >> work, to support an ancient but expensive bit of lab equipment. Even it >> was a Pentium II. Getting the spare parts for it was a nightmare*; we >> had to ship them from 600km away. Hard disks just don't last that long. > > I do have a working Pentium around here somewhere. I even have a 486, > though I haven't turned the machine on in 15 years. I no longer have a > 386 (gave it away). > > 10 years ago, I heard that the 386 was commonly used in embedded > systems. I don't know what the base level x86 used today is.
Until recently my stepdad still had his 8086 setup to interface with an old- school velotype keyboard. I even built a nasty old 5 1/2 inch floppy drive into his shiny dualcore rig, which he used to transfer plain text files between the two machines. It worked fine.
