The x86 Microprocessors: 8086 to Pentium, Multicores, Atom and the 8051 Microcontroller, 2nd Edition

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Multiprocessor Configurations

IN THIS CHAPTER, YOU WILL LEARN

• The principles and problems of multi­processing.
• The different types of multiprocessing systems.
• The way 8086 handles multiprocessing.
• How the 8086 operates in a coprocessor con­figuration.
• How the 8086 works in conjunction with an I/O processor.
• The bus arbitration schemes used in loosely coupled systems.
• The use of the bus arbiter 8289 for bus arbitration.
• The relevance of IEEE 754 format for real numbers.
• Conversion from IEEE 754 number format to decimal numbers and vice versa.
• The architecture of the 8087 arithmetic coprocessor.
• To write programs using 8087 instructions.

Introduction

What is multiprocessing?

Multiprocessing is a term used to indicate that the system contains ...