On May 25,  5:58pm, "Thomas Mueller" wrote:
} 
} Correct with one exception.  Original 486 CPU, subsequently renamed 486 DX, 
} included floating point instructions, hence no need to emulate.  Later, for some
} cockeyed reason, Intel put out a 486 SX, which was a 486 with floating-point 
} part disabled.  Then a 487 processor could be added to remedy this deficiency.
} So a 486 SX would also require MATH_EMULATE.  I can't imagine where one would

     Intel put out the 486SX for marketing reasons.  The early 486's
ran at low clock speeds (16 - 20 MHZ) and were relatively expensive.
Several companies, such as AMD and Cyrix were putting out 386 clones
running at up to 40MHz for a lot lower price and whooping Intel's
butt.  They responded by coming out with a low priced 486 without a
math-co, namely the 486SX.  BTW, the 487 was really just a 486DX with
an extra pin that when inserted into a 487 co-pro socket would tell the
motherboard to disabled the original processor, which was most likely
soldered on.  This strange situation didn't last long and was quickly
replaced by ZIF sockets.

} find a 387 or 487 these days.

     Check EBay, you can find all sorts of weird things there.  Also,
check used computer stores, second hand stores, your local junk shop,
etc.  However, unless you get it for virtually nothing, it probably
isn't worth it.

} How we forget history!  One computer dealer near here, who knew only 
} Windows 95/98/ME, said the 386 and 486 were 16-bit processors!  I don't want to
} deal with somebody so ignorant!

     I would agree.  Of course, I very rarely find a computer store
tech that knows anything.  I have a favourite challenge for them, which
was my system for some time; take the following parts and make them all
work in a single system:

- case and power supply
- 386DX motherboard and processor
- SCSI controller, one internal SCSI disk, and external port available
- ESDI controller and ESDI disk as primary boot disk
- RLL controller and two RLL drives
- busmouse controller and bus mouse
- SMC ethernet card
- VGA card and monitor
- HGC card and monitor
- serial card and external modem (sometimes it was internal modem)
- keyboard
- DOS 6.22 / Win 3.1 / Lantastic  and a very early version of NetBSD

Anybody that could make that combination work smoothly would be a god
by computer store tech. standards.  Most of them were completely
useless.

}-- End of excerpt from "Thomas Mueller"