5 ms·

Sure, but modern x86 has very little in common with the 8088.

lproven 1y ago
> modern x86 has very little in common with the 8088. It is directly binary compatible. A Core i7 can boot and run MS-DOS from the 8088. I offer a freebie DOS distro for modern PCs: https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos What more do you want than "executes the same binaries"?
mojuba 1y ago
Depends on how you define "common" but the entire lineage 8080 -> 8086 -> 8088 are backwards compatible and therefore are very much related.
- klelatti 1y ago
  8080 -> 8086 not compatible although assembly code translation was possible.
  - mananaysiempre 1y ago
    Some parts of the lineage are nevertheless very important. When I wrote a 8086 assembler, I’ve come across the idea of of writing the instruction encodings in octal instead of hexadecimal purely by accident, described as some sort of little-known neat trick hidden from the casual reader of the CPU documentation. It’s only by reading the manual for the Datapoint 2200 much later that I found a confirmation that this was very much intentional and (in the distant past) documented.
    - klelatti 1y ago
      100%! There is clear lineage back to the Datapoint 2200 which is remarkable given that it wasn't even an Intel design and CTC gave away the rights IIRC.
- jacquesm 1y ago
  It goes further back than that, just not as backwards compatible. 4004 -> 8008, 8080 and so on. Just like the 6800, 6809, 68000 etc progression. All of these are families that have more in common with each other from one generation to the next than with other such families. It's logical: usually those were the same teams designing them with better tools and more money at their disposal, as well as a vastly increased transistor budget. Notable exception: the 6800 is in many ways simply an improved 6502 but by a different manufacturer.
  - tonyedgecombe 1y ago
    Another similar exception is the Z80 to the 8080.
    - jacquesm 1y ago
      That's Zilog, not Intel!
      - tonyedgecombe 1y ago
        That's the point: >Notable exception: the 6800 is in many ways simply an improved 6502 but by a different manufacturer.
        jacquesm 1y ago
        Ah I see now what you meant.
  - leoc 1y ago
    The 8008 is not a 4004 descendant, though: it was a new design originally done for the Datapoint 2200!
    - klelatti 1y ago
      With Datapoint’s own ISA of course!
    - 1y ago
userbinator 1y ago
The 16-bit mode instruction set of a modern x86 is almost entirely a superset of the 8088.

> modern x86 has very little in common with the 8088. It is directly binary compatible. A Core i7 can boot and run MS-DOS from the 8088. I offer a freebie DOS distro for modern PCs: https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos What more do you want than "executes the same binaries"?

mojuba 1y ago

Depends on how you define "common" but the entire lineage 8080 -> 8086 -> 8088 are backwards compatible and therefore are very much related.

klelatti 1y ago
8080 -> 8086 not compatible although assembly code translation was possible.
- mananaysiempre 1y ago
  Some parts of the lineage are nevertheless very important. When I wrote a 8086 assembler, I’ve come across the idea of of writing the instruction encodings in octal instead of hexadecimal purely by accident, described as some sort of little-known neat trick hidden from the casual reader of the CPU documentation. It’s only by reading the manual for the Datapoint 2200 much later that I found a confirmation that this was very much intentional and (in the distant past) documented.
  - klelatti 1y ago
    100%! There is clear lineage back to the Datapoint 2200 which is remarkable given that it wasn't even an Intel design and CTC gave away the rights IIRC.
jacquesm 1y ago
It goes further back than that, just not as backwards compatible. 4004 -> 8008, 8080 and so on. Just like the 6800, 6809, 68000 etc progression. All of these are families that have more in common with each other from one generation to the next than with other such families. It's logical: usually those were the same teams designing them with better tools and more money at their disposal, as well as a vastly increased transistor budget. Notable exception: the 6800 is in many ways simply an improved 6502 but by a different manufacturer.
- tonyedgecombe 1y ago
  Another similar exception is the Z80 to the 8080.
  - jacquesm 1y ago
    That's Zilog, not Intel!
    - tonyedgecombe 1y ago
      That's the point: >Notable exception: the 6800 is in many ways simply an improved 6502 but by a different manufacturer.
      - jacquesm 1y ago
        Ah I see now what you meant.
- leoc 1y ago
  The 8008 is not a 4004 descendant, though: it was a new design originally done for the Datapoint 2200!
  - klelatti 1y ago
    With Datapoint’s own ISA of course!
  - 1y ago

userbinator 1y ago

The 16-bit mode instruction set of a modern x86 is almost entirely a superset of the 8088.