math coprocessors - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

6 Apr 1998

On Apr 6, 17:15, Max Eskin wrote:
...
  Subject: Re: math coprocessors
 [Autocad not requiring math coprocessor]
 Well, version 12 for Dos, which is what I have, seems to require it.
 It refuses to start up, quitting with "80x87 required, but not
 present". Whoever said it doesn't, maybe you have a lower version.
 If so, which and what's it like? I would certainly be interested in
 an older version, such a 7 or 8. 
Even fairly old versions require a maths copro.  Some of my then-colleagues at
Acorn Computers were involved in negotiations with Autodesk in 1987, to get it
ported to the ARM architecture.  AD ported Autosketch quite quickly, because it
doesn't need a maths copro, but they refused to port AutoCad, because they
insisted a maths coprocessor was essential (despite the fact that the software
routines available outperformed some contemporary maths processors).

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Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Dept. of Computer Science
						University of York