Happy 30th Birthday x86
Believe it or not, the Intel x86 microprocessor architecture is celebrating its 30th birthday. The Computerworld posting Happy birthday, x86! An industry standard turns 30
Thirty years ago, on June 8, 1978, Intel Corp. introduced its first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086, with a splashy ad heralding “the dawn of a new era.” Overblown? Sure, but also prophetic. While the 8086 was slow to take off, its underlying architecture — later referred to as x86 — would become one of technology’s most impressive success stories
“X86″ refers to the set of machine language instructions that certain microprocessors from Intel and a few other companies execute. It essentially defines the vocabulary and usage rules for the chip. X86 processors — from the 8086 through the 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486 and various Pentium models, right down to today’s multicore chips and processors for mobile applications — have over time incorporated a growing x86 instruction set, but each has offered backward compatibility with earlier members of the family.
This grey beard programmed Intel’s first microprocessor product, the 4-bit wonder 4004, then the 8-bit wonder the 8008, and then the 16-bit wonder 8086. I held off buying a PC until the 32-bit 80386 hit the market, because of the kludgy 8086 memory management scheme.
Read this article for details about how the x86 architecture became king of the silicon heap.
…John
