[Gllug] Small rant

[Nix]

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005, Richard Jones moaned:
> On Sat, Nov 12, 2005 at 01:19:08AM +0000, Chris Hunter wrote:
>> The wackiest was the 80186 - utterly incompatible with /anything/ else!
> 
> Ummm?  The 80186 was an 8086 with a few extra instructions (the same
> extra instructions that the V20/V30 had).  It was mainly used for
> embedded applications - I remember having a disk controller which had
> a '186 on board.

It *was* notable for being used as the guts of some rather non-IBM-
compatible DOS-running machines, notably the RM Nimbus boxes which
were inflicted on countless suffering schoolchildren (including me).

Truly vile machines IMNSHO.

Hardware-wise it was an attempt to reduce the number of supporting chips
needed for an 8086 (hence its use in the embedded market).

(I had one of those Promise caching controllers, too...)

-- 
`Heinlein is quite competent at putting together sentences, but usually
he also puts together a plot to go with them.' --- Russ Allbery
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