Talk:Maximum mode

Merge of both articles
No independent existence of either article. More readable with them merged, probably under a better title "8086 hardware modes" or something, and we can keep both names as redirects.Andy Dingley (talk) 21:56, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Why not merge both articles into the Intel 8086 article since they are specifically about the 8086 (and 8088) ? Heck it might not be unreasonable to merge the Intel 8088 article into the Intel 8086 article since the 8088 is a variant of the 8086 with a 8-bit data bus. Asmpgmr (talk) 22:34, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Which processors supported this hardware mode switching? Was it the 8086 alone, or any other members of the family? (8088 / 80186 / 80286 / 80???)  If it's just the 8086, then merge it to there. Did the 8088 have it though?
 * I'd be against merging the 8088, as this had such a huge role in early PCs. Which isn't to say that much of the content in there about the internal architecture or the instruction set shouldn't be in the 8086 article, and that alone. Andy Dingley (talk) 22:47, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * As far as I know only the 8086 and 8088 supported maximum and minimum modes (selectable via a pin).
 * Of course the 8088 usage in early PCs is significant but it is just a low-cost 8086 much like the 386 SX is a low-cost 386 DX with a 16-bit data bus as opposed to a 32-bit data bus. The architecture of the 8086 and 8088 are identical in every other respect. I suppose it doesn't hurt to keep the 8088 article but it should have a further information link to the 8086 article to avoid duplication of information. Asmpgmr (talk) 23:43, 29 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree that they should at a minimum be merged to "Intel 8086 hardware modes" and moving them both to a new "Hardware modes" section in Intel 8086 would work too. They've obviously been "off the radar" in their current location. Wbm1058 (talk) 01:39, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I really don't think this is notable enough for its own article. The hardware modes were rarely mentioned when these were the dominant processors on PCs as all PCs used maximum mode (they had to in order to support the 8087). The only use of minimum mode I'm aware of is Q*bert and other 8088-based arcade games by Gottlieb. Since these modes are specific to the 8086 and 8088 this information should be added to the 8086 article which is the "primary" article. Asmpgmr (talk) 02:43, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
 * The text and link from the maximum mode article have been copied to the 8086 article. The minimum mode article was basically a duplicate. Both of these articles are no longer needed and should be deleted. Asmpgmr (talk) 02:59, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Very good. Can't be deleted, per WP:CWW. I'll wrap up with the "clerical stuff". Wbm1058 (talk) 03:12, 30 August 2012 (UTC)