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NEC V20/V30 not that much but 80186 and all their specialized embedded variants from Intel (80186EA/EB/EC) and AMD (Am186EM) were extremely appreciated as it allowed to use normal MS-DOS compilers and software.

Am186EM we loved that one. 100 pin PQFP with unmultiplexed bus, CMOS up to 40Mhz, including UART, SPI etc.

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Yes, AM186EM was doubleplus good. I used it in an early interface between a Kodak DC-20 camera (early digital) and IrDA at high-speed (1 Mb/s in those days).

Also liked the V20/V30 too, built a PC card comm controller with those. You are correct, it was normal to use MS-DOS compilers, although I did have to get a special-purpose debugger (code; interface was uart) for the '186.

With those kinds of products, it's 'annoying' that Intel sort of gave away the embedded space.

(agree: 8051 is high up there in the 'microcontroller' space.)

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