Well, the V20 was compatible with Intel 8088 used by IBM...

Post #20,481 by a6l6e6x 12/6/01 12:03:22 PM Reply	Well, the V20 was compatible with Intel 8088 used by IBM... i.e. pin compatible and machine instruction compatible as well. It is 16-bit processor with an 8-bit data bus. Functionally it is equivalent to he Intel 8086 which had a 16-bit data bus. NEC V30 was pin compatible with Intel 8086. The NEC chips had a better design for integer math operations (link says ~15%). My wife had an IBM PS/2 Model 25 whose 8086 I replaced with a V30. The improvement was not large, but noticeable. [link\|http://lowendpc.com/tech/8086.shtml\|Link.] The Zilog/Mostek Z-80, which I knew quite well, was compatible with the Intel 8080 but had many additional machine instructions. The 8080 and Z-80 chips were used on the S-100 Bus machines of the pre-PC period. I built one of these Z-80 machines almost from scratch. e.g. designed, laid out, and etched copper for the processor board, etc. Anyway, the 8-bit data of 8080/Z-80 vs. (internal) 16-bit data of 8088 (and 8086) difference are such you could not run DOS programs on it. In other words, the programming model of the CPUs are different. [link\|http://vmoc.museophile.com/cards/\|Here's a list of other micros.] Pick one. But if you were PC compatible and not Intel, it was probably a NEC V20/V30. Alex Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. -- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Post #20,482 by Andrew Grygus 12/6/01 12:19:48 PM Reply	Z80 - 8088 NEC also made a chip, I think it was called the N300 that executed Z80 instructions but was clock and buss compatible with the 8088. This allowed a machine to have both Z80 and 8088 compatible CPUs on the same board. My Octagon 8/16 S100 machine had this and could boot CP/M-80, CP/M-86 Concurrent CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #20,484 by Silverlock 12/6/01 12:28:15 PM Reply	Damn. I used to have a memory that worked. It was the NEC V20. I think. It also had the 10 Meg hard drive that failed all over the place. I splurged and got a 20 meg to replace it for (IIRC) ~$300. Things are coming back to me. I bought a fancy dancy CGA monitor with a hercules video card to go along with this technical marvel. I replaced and upgraded various parts of the system over the years until nothing of the original was left. I am still using its spiritual succesor. When I visit the aquarium, the same thought keeps running through my mind; Leemmmooonnn, Buuttteerrr, MMMmmmmmm good!
Post #20,488 by inthane-chan 12/6/01 1:03:32 PM Reply	Sigh... The Zilog/Mostek Z-80, which I knew quite well, was compatible with the Intel 8080 but had many additional machine instructions. The 8080 and Z-80 chips were used on the S-100 Bus machines of the pre-PC period. I built one of these Z-80 machines almost from scratch. e.g. designed, laid out, and etched copper for the processor board, etc. It's stories like that which make me wish I had been born 10 years earlier. :( "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche
Post #20,500 by Another Scott 12/6/01 2:24:39 PM Reply	Another machine from the earlier days... In grad school in 1985 or so I got to play with an [link\|http://www.coho.org/~pete/IPC/integral.html\|HP Integral Personal Computer]. It was a "luggable" lunch-box-like portable computer. Moto 68000, 1 MB RAM (512 kB standard), built-in 9" yellow on black (or reverse) EL graphics display. Built-in inkjet printer. Had a new-fangled built-in 700 kB floppy drive (disks were $70 for a box of 10). Ran HP-UX 5 out of ROM. Had a built-in HP-IB interface for attaching to instrumentation, external hard drives, etc. The school was evaluating them as required PCs for the program. The list price was something like $7500 and we were getting them for a little under $5000. It was a nice machine, but too expensive for the students. That's when companies weren't afraid to innovate. :-( Cheers, Scott.

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