THE INDISPENSABLE
PENTIUM BOOK by Hans-Peter Messmer, Addison-Wesley,
ISBN 0-201-87727-9, $29.95How nice it would be if thorough reference works such as The Indispensable Pentium Book were published immediately after a chip came out. Every time I write about a new chip, no matter how detailed my story, dozens of BYTE readers bombard me with E-mail asking for more information. Usually, there aren't any sources to which I can point them. But even though we had to wait two years for this book, it's still worth reading. It covers the Pentium in more detail than anything except the official manuals from Intel. Unlike the official manuals, it offers a more independent point of view. For example, it doesn't shy away from discussing (albeit too briefly) rival microprocessors from AMD, Cyrix, NexGen (before the announced merger, of course), and the leading RISC vendors. Is this book truly indispensable? Yes, if you're a systems designer, CPU engineer, or avid wirehead. But average users will find it too technical. The book stumbles when it tries to woo beginners. For instance, a complicated explanation of real-mode segmented memory inexplicably precedes a tutorial on binary numbers. But if you already know something about CPUs and crave arcane knowledge about Pentium pin-out signals, cache protocols, branching algorithms, exception handling, and much more, this book is the answer to your prayers. Tom R. Halfhill is a BYTE senior editor. You can reach him on the Internet or BIX at thalfhill@bix.com. Copyright 1994-1998 BYTE |