Xref: utzoo comp.unix.microport:1634 comp.sys.intel:542 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!vsi1!ubvax!dalek!sjb From: sjb@dalek.UUCP (Seth J. Bradley) Newsgroups: comp.unix.microport,comp.sys.intel Subject: Re: Pity the poor 286 folk Message-ID: <482@dalek.UUCP> Date: 24 Sep 88 01:56:32 GMT References: <326@siswat.UUCP> <472@uport.UUCP> <9695@ico.ISC.COM> <2577@swlabs.UUCP> Reply-To: sjb@dalek.UUCP (Seth J. Bradley) Organization: Bradley Marketing, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 25 In article <2577@swlabs.UUCP> jack@swlabs.UUCP (Jack Bonn) writes: >In article <9695@ico.ISC.COM> rcd@ico.ISC.COM (Dick Dunn) writes: >What ever happened to the 386 that would plug into a 286 socket? I remember >seeing a description of it in the literature, yet the 386SX seems to have >none of the qualities of the 80288 as it was called. Is there another chip >waiting in the wings (or has its wings been clipped)? I suppose that a >daughter board would probably do the trick, but my guess it would cost as >much as a 80386 mother board. Any further info? The 386SX is available, but as yet is in short supply. While it is compatible with the 286 architecture, it does require a few logic chips to interface it to the bus. My guess is you'll see boards with a 386SX (with a socket for a 387SX) and a few logic chips that will pug into a short slot just for power. A cable will then connect this board to the 286 socket on the motherboard. I'm not making any guarantees, but this arangement should cost much less than a 386 adapter board or motherboard. The disadvantages are you are stuck with a 16 bit data path and the processor will run no faster than your system clock. But if you are running UNIX, you can upgrade to the 386 version which will run 2-3 times faster even at the same clock speed! -- Seth J. Bradley UUCP: uunet!lll-winken!dalek!sjb Internet: lll-winken.llnl.gov!dalek!sjb