On Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:40:02 -0400, s.day wrote:

> I thought the DX machines were the ones with the co-processor, my first
> PC was a 386 SX-33 and I remember complaining to the person who built it
> as I had asked for a DX with a co-processor and 4MB of memory. I
> remember him saying nothing has been written to use the co-processors so
> he did not think there was any point in adding one. Also asking me why I
> needed 4MB of memory, he obviously was not aware of POV-Ray.

Nope, the DX had a 32-bit data bus, the SX only had a 16-bit data bus 
(but a 32-bit instruction set).  The 24 bit address pins meant the SX 
could only handle 16 MB of RAM total, as opposed to 4 GB on the DX models 
(of course, no 386 ever had that much memory in it; my DX was maxed out 
at 16 MB).

And yes, obviously he wasn't aware of POV-Ray; my first serious raytracing 
system was a Northgate 80386DX-33 with a 80387 math coprocessor (I was an 
aeronautical engineering student at the time, so paid for the mathco as 
an add-on option).  IIRC, POV-Ray at the time would take advantage of a 
math coprocessor if it was present.

Jim

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