XPost: alt.folklore.computers, openwatcom.users.c_cpp   
   From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 7 Nov 2025 15:50:53 -0000 (UTC), cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net   
   (Dan Cross) wrote:   
      
   >In article <10eda8d$3pd45$1@dont-email.me>,   
   >Peter Flass   wrote:   
   >>On 11/4/25 08:20, Scott Lurndal wrote:   
   >>> Kaz Kylheku <643-408-1753@kylheku.com> writes:   
   >>>> On 2025-11-03, Peter Flass  wrote:   
   >>>>> On 11/3/25 13:24, Lynn McGuire wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> When I saw this subject line, I thought it was some necroposting to   
   >>>> threads from 1990.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Someone still cared about segmented x86 shit in 2010 (even if 32 bit)?   
   >>>    
   >>> There are still people on the internet who swear that the 286 is   
   >>> better than sliced bread and refuse to recognize that modern   
   >>> architectures are superior.   
   >>>    
   >>   
   >>I was thinking, are there any segmented architectures today? Most    
   >>disguise segmentation as a flat address space (e.g. IBM System/370 et.seq.)   
   >   
   >x86_64 is still nominally segmented; what "code segment" the   
   >processor is running in matters, even in long mode.  But most of   
   >the segment data is ignored by hardware (e.g., base and limits)   
   >in 64-bit mode.   
   >   
   >Of course, it retains a notion of segmentation for a) 16- and   
   >32-bit code compatibility, and b) startup, where the processor   
   >(still!!) comes out of reset in 16-bit real mode.   
   >   
   >Intel had a proposal to do away with 16-bit mode and anything   
   >other than long mode for 64-bit, but it seems to have died.  So   
   >it seems like we'll be stuck with x86 segmentation --- at least   
   >for compatibility purposes --- for a while longer still.   
      
   This is all very interesting as a summary of where-we-are. Thanks.   
      
   Didn't Intel, at one time, plan to replace all xxx8x processors with   
   one of the new! shiny! RISC processor?   
      
   Only to be defeated when it was pointed out that a whole lot of   
   software would have to run on it. Software written for their xxx8x   
   processors, segmentation and all.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)