Intel´s 8086

Intel advertised its new CPU chip for PC and laptop computers in 1993 as the Intel Pentium processor. This chip was the fifth generation (586) evolved from the original 8086 chip, developed in 1976. The results of this 30-year lineage (e.g. 186, 286, 386, 486) have allowed Intel to dominate microcomputers ever since. Although Intel had originally intended the 8800 to be its third-generation CPU, the 8086 played that role by default in 1978. Constrained to be compatible with the 8080 family, it influenced its precursor (the 8085) and dropped a few 8080 features. Although it was decreed to not have floating-point arithmetic, an honor reserved for the 8800, the 8086 was soon joined by the 8087 floating-point coprocessor. Over the following generations-the 286, 386, 486, and Pentium-enhancements provided memory protection, dynamic memory management, and 32-bit data. Even though it was a crash, stop-gap program, the 8086 CPU provided a solid base for successive and remarkable generations of CPU chips at Intel. Its talented computer chip architects were versatile and creative in response to the challenge of building a new, but compatible computer chip.