The Intel 8089 input/output coprocessor was available for use with the 8086/8088 central processor. It was announced in May 1979, but the price was not available at that time.[1] It used the same programming technique as 8087 for input/output operations, such as transfer of data from memory to a peripheral device, and so reducing the load on the CPU. This I/O processor was available in July 1979 for US$194.20 in quantities of 100 or more.[2] Intel second sourced this coprocessor to Fujitsu Limited.[3]
Because IBM didn't use it in the IBM PC design, it did not become well known; later Intel I/O coprocessors did not keep the x89 designation the way math coprocessors kept the x87 designation. It was used in the Apricot PC and the Intel Multibus iSBC-215 Hard disk drive controller.[4] It was also used in the Altos 586 multi-user computer.[5] Intel themselves used the 8089 in their reference designs (which they also commercialized) as System 86.[6]
- ^ Intel Corporation, "Microcomputer Components: Intel Introduces the 8089 IOP, an I/O processor for the advanced 8088/8086 CPU family, the first of a series of new subsystem components", Intel Preview, May/June 1979, p. 7.
- ^ Intel Corporation, "8089 Price Announcement", Intel Preview, July/August 1979, p. 25.
- ^ Intel Corporation, "NewsBits: Second Source News", Solutions, January/February 1985, P. 1
- ^ "Hardware manual" (PDF). Intel. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
- ^ Review: Altos 586. InfoWorld. 7 November 1983. pp. 89–90. ISSN 0199-6649.
- ^ "Introduction to the System 86/360 and System 86/330A Microcomputer Systems" (PDF). bitsavers. Intel. 1983. Retrieved November 30, 2022.