One of my earliest jobs in technology during the 90s was as a computer technician for a large retail computer company. I was old enough to do the work, but too young to be allowed to drive the leased work van for insurance reasons. So I literally had a much older Coworker who drove me around from job to job while he stayed in the car to read the paper. It was very embarrassing. I still remember the first question I was asked during the interview for that job: "What is the difference between a 486sx and 486dx?" I would be shocked if someone commented the answer today without first Googling it :)
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The 486SX and 486DX are identical chips (access memory the same way, 8K
internal cache, etc.) except for the fact that the 486SX is "crippled".
Explanation: The math co-processor on the 486SX is disabled.
That's it. If you do work that requires a lot of number crunching, then you'll
see a noticeable difference in speed (if the programs use the math
co-processor). Otherwise, the difference is minimal. Graphics will be
slightly slower.
There was a big fuss over the disabled FPU when the 486SX was released. Some
people are still upset about it. The 486SX is still faster than most 386's,
but the big advantage of the 486DX is the integrated math co-processor.
Without the FPU, an i486 is nothing more than a more efficient 386 with an
internal cache.
FYI, the AMD 386-40 MHz chip is faster than a 486SX chip.
I think you're correct!!
Impressive :) indeed the explanation I gave was about the difference of the math co-processor. One of the easiest job interviews in the tech field I ever had.
Hey Jeftek, I wanted to ask you if you might want to review a whitepaer and let me know your opinion on the technical aspects? If you have a little spare time, that is.
Secretley googling 486sx and 486xx before responding to this comment...
Hahah Do you still work in the world of IT, or what are you up to these days?
The days of the 486 chips are ancient history in technology it would seem, so totally Google away! :)
Yes, I am very much in the world of IT still and love it. I have had many roles over almost 25 years from small companies to very large enterprises always doing IT for different types of businesses.
A few years ago I knew I wanted to work more for a technology company, and made the leap to work for Microsoft. My focus is on the area of Identity and I help companies modernize their enterprises for the cloud era in identity and security.
However I also get to work with great people on fascinating technology and solve complex challenges, get to mentor and teach, and see the impact on helping people which I come to really enjoy. It is great to be in a culture where you feel empowered and a goal is to contribute to empowering others.
Identity is what allows us all to use apps and services whether it's in the enterprise or as consumers. Steemit is in itself an app and platform that is built on identity concepts which is one of the reasons I have become very interested in it. It is very exciting to see ideas come into reality and I feel we are at the verge of the beginning of the next generation for some of advances in technology that are unfolding and it is great to be a part of it.
It's a long way from that guy who wasn't allowed to drive the work van for sure, and I feel like I am just getting started as the world of technology is rapidly evolving. There are downsides to that as it can be a struggle to keep up with so many different technologies and their pace of change, do finding balance is always an elusive goal.
I don't blog much on Steemit, but I enjoy discovering interesting posts like this and the conversations in the comments, so thanks for asking!
Thanks for asking!
So cool to see that you are still passionate about your career. Pretty cool that you got on with Microsoft! I live in the greater Seattle area, and everyone I know who has worked there seems to like it. I imagine they let you drive the van to jobs anyway. 😆