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Learn Something Old Every Day, Part XVIII: How Does FPU Detection Work?(os2museum.com)
27 points by kencausey 3 days ago | 2 comments
scorpionfeet an hour ago | parent [-]

One small nit:

“it cannot have an FPU added (that is not the case with Cyrix 486S…)”

This is mostly true but the 486SX can be paired with a math coprocessor via the 487SX, but the 487SX is actually a full CPU that disables the SX, not a full FPU!

phire 8 minutes ago | parent [-]

The point is still very valid. You can't add a math coprocessor to the 486SX.

The 487SX is nothing more than a polite fiction to allow consumers (and the computer shops selling to them) to continue their existing habits of buying FPU-less systems, (because most people didn't need FPUs) safe in the knowledge they could buy the upgrade if they ever needed it.

It actually cost the motherboard vendors quite a bit more to wire up the second socket, so obviously there was demand for the flexibility.