>> The first 32bit intel processor was introduced around '88 -89'.
>> the 486. It wasn't really fully utilized for 5 years. (I know Unix
>
>Not true. The iapx432 came out in 1983 or there about. It was not a
>commercial success, being many years ahead of the technology. It had a
>fascinating architecture, with bit-level addressing and the most amazingly
>CISC structure I've ever seen. Think of something designed to run Multics
>as its assembly language and you've got some feel for the architecture. It
>was also *very* expensive and ran like molasses. I wish I still had one for
>my collection of old machines.
Actually, the i432 dates back to about 1980(!!). It came out BEFORE the 8086
16 bit CPU was really done. It was designed to run ADA as its native
language, all data operands were typed. It used a stack architecture. I had
a prototype i432 eval card up and running hooked up to a Intellec MDS system.
The 8x87 FPU architecture of the x86 was based on some of the i432 project, as
was the 286's selector based protected mode.
-jrp
