There are plenty of real CPUs that are useful in the real world but are much simpler than a 286.... 8 bit RISC microcontrollers like Atmel AVRs for example. I'v

There are plenty of real CPUs that are useful in the real world but are much simpler than a 286.... 8 bit RISC microcontrollers like Atmel AVRs for example. I've done a small amount of programming for those in assembly, and they are not a whole lot more complex than the 'toy' design I used for the class.