Also, what does 286s etc mean?
286, 386 etc is a shorthand of the Intel model number for those classes of CPU before manufacturers started thinking up names for them.
What this means is:
'186' - Intel 8088/8086 processor or compatible (note: although there was an '80186' this was a different CPU designed for embedded systems).
'286' - Intel 80286 processor or compatible.
'386' - Intel 80386 processor or compatible.
'486' - Intel 80486 processor or compatible.
Why did this change? Intel didn't like the fact that other manufacturers could make a CPU compatible with one of their own and sell it under the same name. A given system builder might sell the same 386 system with an Intel one week, and an AMD the next depending on what they could source most cheaply at the time.
Intel tried to change this in the early 90's by introducing the now ubiquitous 'Intel Inside' case stickers, then went one further by calling the '586' the Pentium, a name they could trademark. This brought mixed blessings however, since it brought home the message that there were other CPU manufacturers about, whereas before many people assumed that all PC CPUs were Intels, a very powerful position for them to be in.
Also, if i may ask seeing as alot of you are speaking off topic anyway, what is the newest PC/highest specs that Windows 3.1 can run on? We had a PC a while ago that ran that. I remember us having it around 1996-97 though I wern't sure when we got it, nor when he got rid of it, but the PC itself looked similar to one of toldays average PCs.
That's a question and a half. You are going to run into issues (which either stop it working or won't let it take full advantage of your system) if you install it onto anything much newer than 1999 vintage, so there's no practical point on installing it on anything more recent. However, if you just want to get it to run just for the sake of it, here's the long answer.
Windows 3.1 cannot support hard disks formatted in any other than FAT16 format. This filing system does not support disks bigger than 8.4GB (and it can only support that size by using 4 separate 2.1GB partitions). This doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use a modern hard disk, but you wouldn't be able to utilise any more than 8.4GB of the drive, which considering that 250GB drives are common these days, is an awful lot of waste.
MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 cannot support memory sizes beyond 512MB. Officially, it won't work on systems with more. Whether or not it actually will but will only use the first 512MB and ignore the rest I don't know.
There is no technical reason why it shouldn't work on any 32 bit CPU, even if it is a 3Ghz Pentium 4, since they still have the basic 386 instruction set for which Windows 3.1 was designed. I've had it running on a 1.3Ghz Athlon before with no problems. What will happen with 64 bit processors I don't know. They should all be able to knock back to 32 bit mode (even if it's only an emulation), and 32-bit builds of Windows 2000 and XP seem quite happy, but whether or not something as old as Windows 3.1 will be I don't know.
Graphics and sound are an issue however. It's not that modern cards *couldn't* work with 3.1, but no one has written drivers for them so in practice they can't. You'll only be able to use basic VGA graphics (640x480 with 16 colours), and you'll have no sound (although there is a driver knocking around that will let you play wave files through the PCs internal speaker - although the internal speaker has become so redundant in modern machines that many manufacturers now only use a cheap piezo sounder or leave it out alltogether).
TCP/IP networking for internet access is available (IE5 was released in a 16-bit version, other browsers are still being developed for it), and if you use Windows 3.11 for workgroups you'll be able to network it with a Windows XP PC.
Finally, remember that you will have no USB support. All external peripherals must be connected with parallel or serial interfaces or you won't be able to use them.