> One of the reasons is that the first Intel processor to support multi-tasking was 386. Not quite. The 80286 was not a good CPU, but it could do multitasking:

> One of the reasons is that the first Intel processor to support multi-tasking was 386. Not quite. The 80286 was not a good CPU, but it could do multitasking: https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/80286/index.html https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/80286/index.html > The second generation of x86 16-bit processors, Intel 80286, was released in 1982. The major new feature of the 80286 microprocessor was protected mode. When switched to this mode, the CPU could address up to 16 MB of operating memory (previous generation of 8086/8088 microprocessors was limited to 1 MB). In the protected mode it was possible to protect memory and other system resources from user programs - this feature was necessary for real program multitasking. There were many operating systems that utilized the 80286 protected mode: OS/2 1.x, Venix, SCO Xenix 286, and others. While this mode was useful for multitasking operating systems, it was of limited use for systems that required execution of existing x86 programs. The protected mode couldn't run multiple virtual 8086 programs, and had other limitations as well: > 80286 was a 16-bit microprocessor. Although in protected mode the CPU could address up to 16 MB of memory, this was implemented using memory segments. Maximum size of memory segment was still 64 KB. > There was no fast and reliable way to switch back to real mode from protected mode. More about OS/2 on the 80286: https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/os2/history/os210/index.html https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/os2/history/os210/ind...