The Intel 80386EX is a variant of the Intel 386 microprocessor

Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

 designed for embedded system

Embedded system

An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...

s. Introduced in August 1994 and was successful in the market being used aboard several orbit

Orbit

In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...

ing satellites and microsatellites.

Intel did not manufacture another integrated x86 processor until 2007, when it confirmed the new Pentium M-based Intel EP80579 (Tolapai).

Characteristics

• Introduced August 1994
• Variant of 80386SX intended for embedded system
  Embedded system
  An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...
  
  s
• 26-bit memory addressing for up to 64 MiB
  Mebibyte
  The mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major...
  
   of DRAM
• Static core
  Static core
  Static core is a central processing unit chip that can be clocked down to zero hertz.It can be stopped simply by stopping the system clock oscillator that is driving it, and it will hold its state indefinitely and resume processing at the point it was stopped when the clock signal is restarted, as...
  
  , i.e. may run as slowly (and thus, power efficiently) as desired, down to full halt
• On-chip peripherals:
  • clock and power management
  • timers/counters
  • watchdog timer
    Watchdog timer
    A watchdog timer is a computer hardware or software timer that triggers a system reset or other corrective action if the main program, due to some fault condition, such as a hang, neglects to regularly service the watchdog A watchdog timer (or computer operating properly (COP) timer) is a computer...
    
    
  • serial I/O units (synchronous and asynchronous) and parallel I/O
  • DMA
  • RAM refresh
  • JTAG
    JTAG
    Joint Test Action Group is the common name for what was later standardized as the IEEE 1149.1 Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture. It was initially devised for testing printed circuit boards using boundary scan and is still widely used for this application.Today JTAG is also...
    
     test logic
• Significantly more successful than the 80376
  Intel 80376
  The Intel 80376, introduced January 16, 1989, was a variant of the Intel 80386SX intended for embedded systems.It differed from the 80386 in not supporting real mode and having no support for paging in the MMU...
  
  
• Used aboard several orbiting satellites and microsatellites
• Used in NASA's FlightLinux project

External links

• 386EX characteristics