> It's like the difference between a 80286 and a 80386: The latter added the har... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		Narishma 8 months ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: The SeL4 Microkernel: An Introduction [pdf] > It's like the difference between a 80286 and a 80386: The latter added the hardware support for true multitasking that the former lacked. I'm not sure this is a good comparison. The 286 did support true multitasking in protected mode, and it was used in many non-DOS operating systems. What the 386 added (among other things) is the virtual 8086 mode which allowed it to multitask existing real mode DOS applications that accessed hardware directly.

russellbeattie 8 months ago [–]

Sorry, I'm a bit late responding. You're right! I should have used 8086 and 80286 as the example. 386 added virtual memory and some other stuff.

Thanks

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact