Intel 80186-188

Historia

The 80186 microprocessor was developed by Intel in 1982. It is an improved 8086 with several common support functions built in: clock generator, system controller, interrupt controller, DMA controller, and timer/counter. It also added 8 new instructions and executes instructions faster than the 8086. As with the 8086, it has a 16-bit external bus and is also available as the 80188, with an 8-bit external data bus. The initial clock rate of the 80186 and 80188 was 6 MHz. They were, and still are, generally used as embedded processors but also as the CPU of few personal computers: The Mindset graphics computer, a very advanced computer for the time. It had proprietary chips that enhanced and sped up the graphics. The original Gateway Handbook, a small subnotebook computer. The Telenova Compis, a Swedish school computer. The Tandy 2000, a somewhat PC-compatible workstation featuring particularly advanced graphics for its time. In 1987 Intel announced the second generation of the 80186 family: the 80C186/C188. The 80186 was redesigned as a static, stand-alone module known as the 80C186 Modular Core and is pin compatible with the 80186 family, while adding an enhanced feature set. The high-performance CHMOS III process allowed the 80C186 to run at twice the clock rate of the NMOS 80186, while consuming less than one-fourth the power. In 1991 the 80C186 Modular Core family was again extended with the introduction of the 80C186XL. The 80C186XL/C188XL is a higher performance, lower power replacement for the 80C186/C188.