Intel Pentium II rises from the dead

One peculiar side effect of Intel's current problems with supplying processors is the sudden availability, once more, of the Pentium II 400MHz processor. Distributors have been told over the last few days that there is now wide availability of the processor, which actually entered the chip gulag many many months ago. Just exactly what reputable distributors are supposed to do with these Pentium IIs is the really interesting thing. Do they suddenly start telling their system builder clients that while, no, they can't have Coppermines because there aren't any, they can instead revert to a trusted component from yesteryear? It also begs the interesting question of just where Intel found these components which ought to be part of the chip dinosaur's fossil record. Is there, we wonder, some large Intel warehouse somewhere filled with 8086s, 286s, i830s, 386s, 486s, FDIV Pentia and the rest? ®