Re: Ram , Flash requirements?

Dan Olson
2002-06-12T20:08:04Z

> Actually that may have been what I posted, but I think you've not read it
> correctly. I said that it would run on that processor, but that according to
> Alan Cox, a worker in the field of regular Linux whose opinions I value
> strongly, suggested that the onchip peripherals of the 80186 family would
> only be supported with work. Or something like that.

That could very well be, I was under the impression that the 186 was just
an 8086 but with some the other outboard chips used on the PC integrated.
I was at one point hoping to try to build my own 186 board.....but that
hasn't happened :) It looked perty straight forward, if a large static
RAM is used, then the memory, RAM, and BIOS ROM would be a large portion
of a motherboard! Maybe that's wishfull thinking. Maybe someone will try
and and report back. Anyone have a spair Tandy TRS-80 2000 laying around?

I then suggested that
> the original poster should check the archives of the list for Alan's actual
> answer. I copied my answer to the list, because the original poster of the
> question replied only to me. I suspect he didn't realize that when you click
> reply on most Microsoft mailer programs it goes the to name on the message,
> not to the list.

That's actually because the "reply to" field isn't the list, but the
sender. None of the other lists I'm on are that way.

And yes, I don't doubt that normal ELKS code will run
> natively on all 8086 based hardware. The 80186 is a special case because it
> was designed for embedded applications. I think the sibo code would run on
> it, but I don't know. That's what I am suggesting. Have you yourself tried
> it? I haven't. I am basing this on my many years of experience in the field.

I don't know, I'm just basing this on what I read in a giant PDF I found
on the intel web site that includes the data sheet for the 188 and 186.
Like I say, maybe someone else out there will be able to give it a try. I
might even donate a CPU to the cause :)

Dan