From: muta...@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, July 13, 2021 at 1:14:37 AM UTC+8, Scott Lurndal wrote:   
   > Rod Pemberton  writes:   
   > >On Fri, 9 Jul 2021 18:04:18 -0700 (PDT)   
   > >"muta...@gmail.com"  wrote:   
   > >   
   > >> The more I look at the 8086, the more I am happy   
   > >> that segmentation was the correct technical   
   > >> solution to cope with machines that still had a   
   > >> 16-bit processor and registers, but had more than   
   > >> 64k memory available to them. I just would have   
   > >> made the segment shift flexible instead of telling   
   > >> everyone that "4" was being set in stone.   
   > >   
   > >They would've been wiser to split a 32-bit address across two registers   
   > >instead of using a 4-bit shift and add. That would've allowed for an   
   > >easier transition to 32-bit.   
   > A waste of scarce resources (registers). Consider also the   
   > required logic (and the process in the 1980s - the 8080 was 6um,   
   > 8086 was 3um). Today, 5nm is in production and 3nm is coming soon,   
   > that's 1000 times finer).   
      
      
   Would it have been possible within the limits   
   of late 70s/early 80s technology to have an   
   Instruction or jumper to switch between 4 and 5 bit   
   segment shifts at a minimum?   
      
   Actually, just being able to determine   
   whether the current cpu is 4 or 5 bits   
   would be good enough.   
      
   And that could even be hardcoded in software   
   I think. If necessary. What options were open?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)