and removing that 16-bit support is probably gonna break a legacy system in some critical infrastructure, because no one bothered to update it since it was created
It doesn't run 8080 code if that's what you mean.
But there are many nuances for pedantic geeks. The 8088 in the original IBM PC used an 8 bit data bus for the I/O, but could address 24 bits, using the segment registers in combination with the main address registers.
Fwiw it doesnt bootstrap itself or anything
Theres just several processing modes that you have to enter yourself, usually the bootloader will do that
Theres all sorts of fun stuff too, like by default you only get ~1MiB of physical memory, even on 64 bit mode (long mode)
It’s more like that old friend from high school where whenever you meet after a long time all of a sudden you’re saying “mad cool” and “it’s brick out” or whatever other nonsense.
x86 is what you get when processors are architected by electrical engineers without input from software architects.
IBM favored the Motorola 68000 but it was 6 months late. Ironically this favored Intel because anyone could write position-independent code in assembler on Intel, unlike the 68000.
The 68k had a lovely linear address space making position independent code impossible without a memory management unit, which were either non-existent then or unusable to assembler programmers.
To clarify, the TSR call in DOS was useful because of the x86 segment offset register architecture - a thing of some horror to compiler writers but of great utility to assembler programmers - which allowed multiple ‘programs’ linked to the same address to run from different physical locations.
Windows is 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of competition.”
And then on the hardware side it's a 64-bit architecture pretending to be a 32-bit architecture pretending to be a 16-bit architecture pretending to be an 8-bit architecture
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and the 16 bit architecture was based on an older 8 bit one
But there are many nuances for pedantic geeks. The 8088 in the original IBM PC used an 8 bit data bus for the I/O, but could address 24 bits, using the segment registers in combination with the main address registers.
the entire joke is x86 being a bunch of hacks that dates back to the 8086
Theres just several processing modes that you have to enter yourself, usually the bootloader will do that
Theres all sorts of fun stuff too, like by default you only get ~1MiB of physical memory, even on 64 bit mode (long mode)
https://youtu.be/HyznrdDSSGM?si=eDosb9XvUoWax2px
https://www.righto.com/2013/02/8085-instruction-set-octal-table.html?m=1
IBM favored the Motorola 68000 but it was 6 months late. Ironically this favored Intel because anyone could write position-independent code in assembler on Intel, unlike the 68000.
Sidekick made the PC, and the TSR made Sidekick.
Valid.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2024/11/07/qualcomm-and-arm-trade-jabs-ahead-of-december-court-case/
AX = Accumulator eXtended
EAX = Extended Accumulator eXtended?
RAX = REALLY Accumulator Exteded
…. Checks out 🫠