487 and Marketing Breakthroughs (was Re: 486DX/SX (was:

When customers used to ask me to explain the difference between a SX and DX processor, I'd give the standard spiel (386SX is basically a souped up 286 with same data path using 32 bit addressing, 486SX is a coprocessor neutered DX) then tell them the easy way to remember is that DX stands for DELUXE, SX stands for SUCKS. Well, it works for me..... Marty ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: 487 and Marketing Breakthroughs (was Re: 486DX/SX (was: Re: Author: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu at internet Date: 11/7/98 1:07 AM "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com> wrote: No. The 487 is a *fully* functional 486DX, and it has to be, because when you plug it into a 487 socket it disables your 486SX completely and takes over. The 487 is NOT a "math coprocessor". It's a "Marketing Breakthrough" (*), or so they had hoped. The made the pinouts of the 486 and 487 slightly different, so that you couldn't take out your old 486SX and simply install the 487 in its place, which would leave you with a spare 486SX to give to a friend, i.e., less sales of new chips for Intel. Part of the reason it didn't work out in practice is that 486DX chips were generally available for less money than the expensive retail-box 487. Cheers, Eric (*) If you're not familiar with the concept of a Marketing Breakthrough, see this advertisement which appeared in newspapers nationally a few years ago: http://www.milk.com/wall-o-shame/dish.html Note that every statement in the advertisement is literally true; they even utilize italics to emphasize the fact that the product is nothing special. I didn't buy their antenna, but I offered to pay them up to $20 for a large poster of the advertisement. Unfortunately they never replied. ------ Message Header Follows ------ Received: from lists5.u.washington.edu by smtp.itgonline.com (PostalUnion/SMTP(tm) v2.1.9i(b5) for Windows NT(tm)) id AA-1998Nov07.010745.1767.76113; Sat, 07 Nov 1998 01:07:45 -0500 Received: from host (lists.u.washington.edu [140.142.56.13]) by lists5.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with SMTP id WAA13734; Fri, 6 Nov 1998 22:05:39 -0800 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with ESMTP id WAA44546 for <classiccmp(a)lists.u.washington.edu>du>; Fri, 6 Nov 1998 22:04:11 -0800 Received: from brouhaha.com (ruckus.brouhaha.com [209.185.79.17]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with SMTP id WAA283 32 for <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>du>; Fri, 6 Nov 1998 22:04:11 -0800 Received: (qmail 517 invoked by uid 342); 7 Nov 1998 06:04:21 -0000 Message-Id: <19981107060421.516.qmail(a)brouhaha.com> Date: 7 Nov 1998 06:04:21 -0000 Reply-To: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu Sender: CLASSICCMP-owner(a)u.washington.edu Precedence: bulk From: Eric Smith <eric(a)brouhaha.com> To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers" <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu> Subject: 487 and Marketing Breakthroughs (was Re: 486DX/SX (was: Re: Classic != IBM AT)) In-Reply-To: <v0401170bb2696bd1e812(a)[192.168.1.2]> (healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com) References: <v0401170bb2696bd1e812(a)[192.168.1.2]> X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN