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And if you're old and a bit odd, there were i486+i860[1] motherboards from (at least) Hauppauge, Microway & Olivetti.

[1] https://old.hotchips.org/wp-content/uploads/hc_archives/hc02...




I remember learning "Hauppauge" was pronounced "Hop Hog"


I never got my hands on one of those. But I did get to play with Transputers, which was another interesting co-processor option.


Transputers are still a thing from ST Micro, I think, though targeting the embedded market now. I got to use a Meiko 'Surface' transputer supercomputer back in the day. Interesting toy.

The i486+i860 combo I played with ended up being not particularly interesting. By the time it showed up, Pentium was eminent so the i486 was old news and the i860 was a huge pain in the ass to get anything like promised performance out of.


Meiko, there's another name that I haven't heard for a really long time.

Are there any Transputer based systems still in use?


Yeah...the Meiko was pretty nifty, and Occam was an interesting language.

Like I said, ST Micro picked up the Transputer line via acquisition. They morphed it into more of an embedded product, and targeted things like set-top boxed. Pretty sure it was the ST20 line. Unfortunately, a very quick look at the web site makes it look like ST did what everyone else in the embedded world seems to be devolving to: everything is an ARM. So...there are probably descendants of Transputer still chugging along out there, but doesn't look like it has a future.




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