It may surprise you “young” readers to hear that for many years there was no difference between a computer used for dedicated applications and one that could run different programs at different times! When Intel’s 8-bit 8008 gave way to the 16-bit 8086 they also produced the 8-bit-interface 8088; the next step had the 80286 but still had the (I believe 8-bit-interface) 80186; the 80286 led to the 386, and the 486. after “4” the marketing folks substituted “Pentium” for “5”; since then the non-dedicated program market has moved out of sight. Continue reading →