x86
Hard Drive Recovery - x86
The term ‘x86’ refers to the most popular instruction set architecture in the history of personal computing. The architecture is derived from the first few processor generations backward compatible with original Intel 8086. Currently, this architecture has been implemented in processors from Intel, AMD, Cyrix and several others.
x86 implies a binary compatibility with the 32-bit instruction set of the 80386. x86 is a variable instruction length, primarily two-address “CISC” design with emphasis on backward compatibility. The instruction set is not typical CISC, but is an extended and orthogonalized version of the simple eight-bit 8080 / 8085-architecture.
All x86 processors support moving 8 or 16 bits to or from memory with one operation. They also support moving 32, 64, or 128 bits with one instruction, depending on the architecture version. All x86 processors support 8 and 16-bit integers and the largest native size for integers and addressing offsets is 16, 32, or 64 bits depending on architecture generation.
Today, the x86 architecture is commonly used in desktop and notebook computers as well as different servers and workstations. A large number of software products, including MS-DOS, Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and Mac OS X, are available to support the x86 platform.
The x86 architecture is not very common in embedded systems and low-end computing devices such as home appliances or toys. Instead they use simpler 16-bit x86 chips, but AMD’s Geode and the new Intel Atom are examples of 32- and 64-bit designs used in this segment.
x86 is not synonymous with IBM PC compatibility. For instance, the original Xbox was designed around an x86 processor, but due to security restrictions led to software requirements making it incapable of simply running standard code designed for other IBM PC compatible systems.
