AnyOldName3 Wrote:You didn't have to pay IBM anything to make an IBM PC compatible computer, so surely we wouldn't need all the licenses if we called it x86_64 compatible.
IBM PC clones used x86 cpus from Intel or other companies with an x86 license. Intel was by far the largest provider of cpus for these systems. A few other companies had x86 licenses due to manufacturing agreements from Intel or in some rare cases legal reverse engineering of derived architectures. The system manufacturers did not make their own cpus. Today all of the x86 licenses up to the 486 are open but the extensions past that such as SSE and x86-64 still require a license from Intel or AMD.
"Normally if given a choice between doing something and nothing, I’d choose to do nothing. But I would do something if it helps someone else do nothing. I’d work all night if it meant nothing got done."
-Ron Swanson
"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony
-Ron Swanson
"I shall be a good politician, even if it kills me. Or if it kills anyone else for that matter. "
-Mark Antony