In a message to Martijn van de Streek, Scott McNay wrote:
MvdS> 8086 was in the first IBM XTs.
MvdS> But then Intel came with the 8088 (the 8086 SX if you wish),
SM> As I recall hearing (reading ;), the 8086 indeed came out before the
SM> 8088, but it was never used in an XT or PC.
SM> If the 8086 was in the original XT's and Intel THEN came out with
SM> the 8088, then that implies that the PC's must have come with the
SM> 8086 also, which is certainly incorrect; I've seen MANY 8088 CPU's;
SM> I don't recall ever seeing a 8086, even in those PS/2's that came
SM> with them (very compact design; the display electonics were pretty
SM> much in the way of everything when working on the guts, as I recall)
The PC was _supposed_  to use an 8086, and was originally designed on that 
basis.  But as IBM started gearing up for production, they discovered that 
reliable sources of 16-bit peripherals did not yet exist.  In a desperate 
move to meet the announced release deadline, Intel cobbled together a 
half-assed version of the 8086 with an b-bit bus: the 8088.
       Cheers,
           Rich
http://www.netside.net/~rveraa/
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