[SomeHacker44]

Silly question. Are there any 486-compatible small CPUs that could be embedded into a project instead of using an FPGA? Given that AMD, Intel and others have the ability to make 486-compatible processors currently, I would have thought you could just buy a CPU or SoC to run 486 code.

[privatelypublic]

Define "486-compatible." As far as I know even intel's newest cpus can run 486 era 16-bit stuff in hardware.

But, a plain answer: Via Eden boards. still use north/southbridge architecture, and are from the mid 2000's.

It's just modern Windows/Linux that have discontinued the ability. Or, perhaps you have 16/32 and 32/64 and are unable to do 16bit on 64bit machines- which still boils down to "operating system."

By far the biggest issue though is that even the Via Eden processor is significantly faster than a 486- and lots of software (especially games) from that era used no-op instruction loops for timing and timers. This results in games like The Incredible Machine's level timer running out in half a second or less.

[p_ing]

In Windows, once you're in long mode, there's no 16-bit available to you. You can instead take the DOSBox or other VM route.

Linux isn't really relevant given the time frame.

[privatelypublic]

I left it open as to if it was a hardware or OS level item that prevents 16bit. Because I don't know, and don't care to dig that rabbit hole.

Also- DOSBox is an emulator vs VMs are hardware, no? I suspect A VM won't fix the "no-op loop for timing" issue- with modern processors' lowest clock being 600-800Mhz before it gets C6/C7'd, 30 years of IPC improvement, and the possibility of the CPU itself optimizing such loops (I'm unsure for various reasons): I expect the UX of "just limit how many scheduler slices it gets" to be nasty.

[p_ing]

DOSBox is an emulator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOSBox#Hardware_emulation

[ThrowawayR2]

Intel did have a product like that but it's been discontinued: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quark

[Joe_Cool]

AMD even had two of them. Their own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_%C3%89lan and based on the Cyrix x586 after they acquired them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geode_(processor)

They weren't even that bad considering the little power they needed.

[zokier]

Vortex86 is probably the closest thing to what you are looking for.

[vascocosta]

Any idea when Pixel86 is going to be available again or how/where to get an ITX-Llama system?

[p_ing]

Pre-orders:

https://retrodreams.ca/

Review - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9UdU89DDvY

[vascocosta]

Thanks!

It says this however:

"Expected to ship to customers in February 2025."

I wonder if a typo or if batch 2 is already gone too...

[numpad0]

Do people buy these things? It seems to me that shops touching Vortex86 always struggle to move them.

[p_ing]

They have a contact us form, or discord.

[bobmcnamara]

There used to be single-chip x86 systems, but I don't know if they went all the way up to 486. You'd see them in early low power portables.

[Frenchgeek]

I'm guessing the ITX-Llama is far less affordable next to reusing a "generic" FPGA retrogaming board.

[hypercube33]

There is a branch of Via (?) in china making enhanced 486 system on a chip "586" systems. I'm on mobile so I don't have the name handy but I'm still hopeful these get cheap enough to enter the hobby space more.