> As for running 8086 code on a P4 et al without emulation -- that's been tried. Doesn't work.
I'd be interested in your source of information but I found this on Wikipedia and I believe it is right. "Nearly full binary backward compatibility is actually present between the Intel 8086 chip through to a modern Pentium or Athlon based processor. (There are certain unusual exceptions, such as the counted shift instructions, corrections to the original PUSHA instruction, some orphaned Intel 80286 semantics, the dropped LOADALL instruction, and the Pentium 4 giving up on precise FPU operation counts.) Each successive instruction extension has been either simply directly added, or accompanied by adding execution modes to the processor." This is without any emulation and without emulation on a PowerPC, you would never get a 68k program running on a PowerPC. Wikipedia again states this. "Apple, who also lacked a PowerPC based OS, took a different route. They rewrote the essential pieces of their Mac OS operating system for the PowerPC architecture, and further wrote a 680x0 emulator which could run the remaining parts of the un-rewritten OS and 68K based applications." Face it, people who say x86 is old language may be correct in popular use. But what it meant when it was first used, defines Pentium 4s and Core Duos as x86 compatible processors. Ok, maybe looking back I was a bit wrong about running code on processors, the major reason being that Pentiums are 32bit. But what I really meant was the instruction set is the same just with extensions. Why Intel doesn't call their processors x86 compatible, probably it doesn't market well. Maybe it confuses consumers, or it makes the processor sound old. I don't think we will see a new standard from Intel because it would mean that the years and years of software development would be obsolete. Apple could pull it off because they control the Hardware and Software sides of things. To do it in the Windows world, would require a monumental alliance of forces such as Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Toshiba, HP, Dell, Adobe and others. So at the moment and in the foreseeable future all consumer processors created by Intel, AMD and VIA are x86 compatible. -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:imac-list@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
