Date   : Mon, 06 Mar 2006 19:52:27 -0000
From   : "Mike" <profpep@...>
Subject: Re: Warning: Sad case on list!

> IIRC didn't Acorn think about using the 80386 but Intel wouldn't let them
> have a sample or something so they made their own. I remember seeing an
> 80386 in an Intel motherboard at some tech. fair in 1985. I don't think it
> came mainstream until mid 1986. I remember it well because the motherboard
> was enormous and had a prototype 82385 surrounded by lots of memory ICs
with
> big heatsinks on them - a 32K level 2 cache. I also recall some guy saying
> that the 386 wouldn't sell and the 286 was a much better processor... yeah
> right...
>
> I'd love to see some pictures/benchmarks of a 386 2nd processor, my old
386
> is running my firewall.

You're doing better than me - I used my last old SX to run my christmas
lights via two old parallel port cards.

I'm remembering an old event here too. I went to see a demo of two then new
machines, at Salford uni, I think. In the Blue corner was the mighty Compaq
386/20MHz, in the red corner the Acorn Arcimedes, (I can't remember the
model). They did a play off with some various benchmarks, and especially on
the interpreted BASIC ones, the Compaq was trounced. The rep looked a bit
hurt, but commented that the next ones were going to be 33MHz, and where
would Acorn be then? The man from Acorn started to laugh, and when he
stopped, explained that the Arcimedes was running at 8 MHz. . .

||\/||ike