James Knott said the following on 07/24/2013 08:26 AM:
Anton Aylward wrote:
False economies in my opinion, but that's what happens when marketing gets an upper hand.
IIRC, one of the reasons for this was so the existing 8 but support chips could be used. These were originally designed for the 8080 & 8085 and could be used with the 8088.
There would be no problem with the support chips, the IO, DMA and so on. No, the issue was around the data bus. The 8086, and the 8080 couldn't drive the data bus, they needed the address latches and buffer drivers. The incremental cost of the extra set of components for the 16-bit bus was what made the decision. There is an irony to this. Semiconductor components have always had an aggressive pricing curve, both with quantity and time. By the time the IBM PC hit the showroom shelves the cost of those extra components meant that a fill 16-bit bus with an 8086 would have been cheaper than the 8-bit with 8088 at time the original costing was carried out. The joke comparing automobiles to computers comes to mind. At a recent computer exposition, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: "If General Motors had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." but don't forget http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2012/07/23/first-portable-computer-55-pound... -- How long did the whining go on when KDE2 went on KDE3? The only universal constant is change. If a species can not adapt it goes extinct. That's the law of the universe, adapt or die. -- Billie Walsh, May 18 2013 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org