Comment by naturalmovement
1 day ago
Using x86 in embedded products is not new, especially older ones from the 90s, it was extremely common actually to run DOS or VXworks or QNX. It's all over industrial products. In fact Intel still shipped 386 CPUs until a few years ago.* It's cool and all but if we wrote blog posts about all of them you'd be set for the next 10 years.
* Supposedly 2007 but that does not sound right for embedded customers unless Intel built a lifetime supply.
> unless Intel built a lifetime supply
This is standard practice for low-volume legacy parts. A single production run will often yield enough parts for months or even years of demand; once demand gets low enough, the manufacturer will just sell what's left of the last batch, and discontinue the part when that runs out.
Since they are out of patent, curious if anyone would be willing to manufacture it again.
If there wasn't enough demand ~20 years ago for Intel to continue manufacturing the part, it's far less likely that there's enough demand now to justify designing, manufacturing, and qualifying a new part to replace it.
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A lot of SoCs in monitors have a 186-compatible core:
https://www.cpushack.com/2013/01/12/the-intel-80186-gets-tur...