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[Segin]

Tony Duell wrote:
>>>>I perfer to work with older systems (386s are fun!) [...]
>>>
>>>I am curious as to what is 'fun' about 386s (I assume you mean PC
>>>compatibles, and not, for example, Sequent multi-processor machines).
>>
>>Well, I'm not the person you're responding to, but I have some
>>possible suggestions.
>>
>>
>>>So the real low-level hardware/software hackability of these machines
>>>would seem to be little different from a more modern PC.
>>
>>I'm not so sure.
>>
>>While I've never tried, I'd lay decent odds that it's a good deal
>>easier to cobble together a working ISA board than a working PCI board.
> 
> 
> I'd forgotten that. Yes, an ISA board can be built from junk-box parts in 
> an hour or so. 
> 
> Another thing, it's a lot easier to interface to the parallel, serial or 
> joystick ports than to Useless Serial Botch. I guess a 386 machine is 
> very likely to have at least the first 2 of those, modern machines might 
> well be USB only.
> 
> 
>>Also, wasn't 386 instruction execution time predictible to the
>>clock-cycle level (as opposed to more recent machines with caches and
> 
> 
> I thought even the 8086 did some pre-fetching of instructions. Which 
> means even that chip is less predicatable than, say, a Z80.
> 
> 
>>And, of course, it's entirely possible that 16-year-old happens to be
>>emotionally attached to 386s for reasons completely unrelated to their
>>technical merits or lack thereof - perhaps there's some cherished game
> 
> 
> Sure. That's why I'm curious about why he's interested in such machines.
> 
> -tony
> 
I wouldn't say "emotionally attached" myself, since I exibit no 
emotional response to... well, anything! I like old hardware, mainly 
cause it's more dependable than today's workstations and desktops. Why? 
Because companies actually put thought into creating parts that were 
durable back then. Compare it to cars (my favorite analogy against 
computers), A 1969 Ford Mustang is usually more durable, dependable, and 
will survive a crash with substantally less damage than, say, a 2005 Kia 
Optima or Saab xB.

The only reason I show a likeness to a 386 is because the oldest piece 
of computer hardware I have is a 386. In fact, all of my usable hardware 
is x86.

-- 
The real problem with C++ for kernel modules is: the language just sucks.
	-- Linus Torvalds