strangest systems I've sent email from

[Fred Cisin]

On Tue, 24 May 2016, Swift Griggs wrote:
> This was always the biggest pustule on the facade of x86 to me. Gate A20
> and other chicanery was nasty business. It always struck me as a hardware
> hack to work around earlier bad design.
to work around earlier LIMITED design.

IFF 64K is reasonable for you, then x86 is excellent.

If you barely need a little more (a few 64K blocks), then it is OK.
(such as XenoCopy)

If you really need more, then it is a PITA.


Keep in mind, that it was coming into a 64K world, and wasn't intended to 
last much past that.
If you are trying to use a 64K address processor in a multi-megabyte 
world, it's going to be a miserable misfit.
(like trying to use an air-cooled VW bus for commercial hauling)

Yeah, we use what's handy, even if it's not really suitable.