10 Apr
2000
10 Apr
'00
4:29 p.m.
I never got too excited about the '386 adapters to a '286 system, because
the 386DX was a mite slower than a '286 running from the same clock. What's
more, when you used a '386 back then the first thing that the OS did was
tell it "you're a '286 now" and proceed. The '286 did this a little
better.
By the time there was a '386 that actually outran the '286, ther was a '486
that could outrun 'em both.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 12:05 PM
Subject: Re: 386 upgrade cpus?
>
> The upgrades for the '386 types were typically 486DLC thingies that
claimed
> to be a '486 but looked like and fit in the
place of a '386. They also
had
no internal
math processor.
The '286's weren't so easily upgraded, but there were 20 and 25 MHz CMOS
(Harris) versions that were pretty popular.
There were daughterboards that fitted in place of the 80286 processor
chip. They normally contained an 80386SX (16 bit data bus) or sometimes a
486SLC-type thing (that could be convinced to use a 16 bit data bus
without too much work) and a couple of PLDs to combine bus control
signals, etc. Some of them even had a floating point chip on the board.
They work. I'm using one right now (how else do you run linux on a PC/AT
:-)). But they're not exactly fast...
-tony