Intel 8088 processor from the first IBM PC is 35 years old

The processor from the first IBM PC in the early eighties, came on the market, the Intel 8088, is 35 years old. The 16bit cpu was a downgrade compared to its predecessor, 8086 and formed thanks to the popularity of the IBM PC the beginning of the dominance of Intel cpus in desktops.

It is unclear whether Intel, the 8088 is actually presented on 1 July 1979, or that it in fact was an announcement a month earlier, as many sources state. The 8088 took to release around 124 dollars and for IBM, like Intel wanted to work, and in addition, at the request of Microsoft preferably opted for a 16bit processor, so the choice for the first IBM PC from 1981.

Because the first IBM PC ran on these Intel 8088 processor, were many clones of this processor use to be as compatible with the IBM version. Thus began a long history of dominance of Intel processors in desktops and laptops with Microsoft operating systems. That dominance still continues.

The Intel 8088 turned up on 5MHz, but Intel used a clock speed of 4,77 MHz. Later versions of the 8088 could to 10MHz. The processor is more than ten years in production.

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