The NXP ColdFire is a microprocessor that derives from the Motorola 68000 family architecture, manufactured for embedded systems development by NXP Semiconductors . It was formerly manufactured by Freescale Semiconductor (formerly the semiconductor division of Motorola ) which merged with NXP in 2015.
113-538: The ColdFire instruction set is "assembly source" compatible (by means of translation software available from the vendor) and not entirely object code compatible with the 68000 . When compared to classic 68k hardware, the instruction set differs mainly in that it no longer has support for the binary-coded decimal (BCD) packed data format; it removes a number of other, less used instructions; and most instructions that are kept support fewer addressing modes . Also, floating point intermediates are 64 bits and not 80 bits as in
226-423: A 32-bit instruction set , with 32-bit registers and a 16-bit internal data bus . The address bus is 24 bits and does not use memory segmentation , which made it easier to program for. Internally, it uses a 16-bit data arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and two more 16-bit ALUs used mostly for addresses, and has a 16-bit external data bus . For this reason, Motorola termed it a 16/32-bit processor. As one of
339-404: A PC , is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as word processing , internet browsing , email , multimedia playback, and gaming . Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user , rather than by a computer expert or technician . Unlike large, costly minicomputers and mainframes , time-sharing by many people at the same time
452-442: A TV set or an appropriately sized computer display , and is often used as a digital photo viewer, music and video player, TV receiver, and digital video recorder. HTPCs are also referred to as media center systems or media servers . The goal is to combine many or all components of a home theater setup into one box. HTPCs can also connect to services providing on-demand movies and TV shows. HTPCs can be purchased pre-configured with
565-401: A kit form and in limited volumes, and were of interest mostly to hobbyists and technicians. Minimal programming was done with toggle switches to enter instructions, and output was provided by front panel lamps. Practical use required adding peripherals such as keyboards, computer displays , disk drives , and printers . Micral N was the earliest commercial, non-kit microcomputer based on
678-511: A multitasking operating system . Eventually, due to the influence of the IBM PC on the personal computer market , personal computers and home computers lost any technical distinction. Business computers acquired color graphics capability and sound, and home computers and game systems users used the same processors and operating systems as office workers. Mass-market computers had graphics capabilities and memory comparable to dedicated workstations of
791-553: A portable computer prototype called SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) based on the IBM PALM processor with a Philips compact cassette drive, small CRT , and full function keyboard. SCAMP emulated an IBM 1130 minicomputer in order to run APL/1130. In 1973, APL was generally available only on mainframe computers, and most desktop sized microcomputers such as the Wang 2200 or HP 9800 offered only BASIC . Because SCAMP
904-469: A touchscreen display, which can be controlled using either a stylus pen or finger. Some tablets may use a hybrid or convertible design, offering a keyboard that can either be removed as an attachment, or a screen that can be rotated and folded directly over top the keyboard. Some tablets may use desktop-PC operating system such as Windows or Linux, or may run an operating system designed primarily for tablets. Many tablet computers have USB ports, to which
1017-525: A 16-bit status register. The upper 8 bits is the system byte, and modification of it is privileged. The lower 8 bits is the user byte, also known as the condition code register (CCR), and modification of it is not privileged. The 68000 comparison, arithmetic, and logic operations modify condition codes to record their results for use by later conditional jumps. The condition code bits are "carry" (C), "overflow" (V), "zero" (Z), "negative" (N) and "extend" (X). The "extend" (X) flag deserves special mention, because it
1130-835: A 4096-color palette, stereo sound, Motorola 68000 CPU, 256 KB RAM, and 880 KB 3.5-inch disk drive, for US$ 1,295. IBM's first PC was introduced on 12 August 1981 setting what became a mass market standard for PC architecture. In 1982 The Computer was named Machine of the Year by Time magazine. Somewhat larger and more expensive systems were aimed at office and small business use. These often featured 80-column text displays but might not have had graphics or sound capabilities. These microprocessor-based systems were still less costly than time-shared mainframes or minicomputers. Workstations were characterized by high-performance processors and graphics displays, with large-capacity local disk storage, networking capability, and running under
1243-413: A 64-pin package. This became known as the "Texas Cockroach". By the mid-1970s, Motorola's MOS design techniques had become less advanced than their competition, and their fabrication lines at times struggled with low yields . By the late-1970s, the company had entered a technology exchange program with Hitachi , dramatically improving their production capabilities. As part of this, a new fab named MOS-8
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#17327918844041356-410: A computer that could fit on a desk was remarkably small, leading to the desktop nomenclature. More recently, the phrase usually indicates a particular style of computer case . Desktop computers come in a variety of styles ranging from large vertical tower cases to small models which can be tucked behind or rest directly beneath (and support) LCD monitors . While the term desktop often refers to
1469-557: A computer with a vertically aligned computer tower case , these varieties often rest on the ground or underneath desks. Despite this seeming contradiction, the term desktop does typically refer to these vertical tower cases as well as the horizontally aligned models which are designed to literally rest on top of desks and are therefore more appropriate to the desktop term, although both types qualify for this desktop label in most practical situations aside from certain physical arrangement differences. Both styles of these computer cases hold
1582-510: A desk, including a keyboard, a small one-line display, and printer. The Wang 2200 microcomputer of 1973 had a full-size cathode ray tube (CRT) and cassette tape storage. These were generally expensive specialized computers sold for business or scientific uses. 1974 saw the introduction of what is considered by many to be the first true personal computer, the Altair 8800 created by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) . Based on
1695-467: A dual 68000 CPU configuration, and systems with a triple 68000 CPU configuration also exist (such as Galaxy Force and others based on the Sega Y Board), along with a quad 68000 CPU configuration, which has been used by Jaleco (one 68000 for sound has a lower clock rate compared to the other 68000 CPUs) for games such as Big Run and Cisco Heat ; another, fifth 68000 (at a different clock rate than
1808-415: A few years before. Even local area networking, originally a way to allow business computers to share expensive mass storage and peripherals, became a standard feature of personal computers used at home. An increasingly important set of uses for personal computers relied on the ability of the computer to communicate with other computer systems, allowing interchange of information. Experimental public access to
1921-432: A graphics card installed. For this reason, desktop computers are usually preferred over laptops for gaming purposes. Unlike desktop computers, only minor internal upgrades (such as memory and hard disk drive) are feasible owing to the limited space and power available. Laptops have the same input and output ports as desktops, for connecting to external displays, mice, cameras, storage devices and keyboards. Laptops are also
2034-491: A higher-numbered interrupt can always interrupt a lower-numbered interrupt. In the status register, a privileged instruction allows setting the current minimum interrupt level, blocking lower or equal priority interrupts. For example, if the interrupt level in the status register is set to 3, higher levels from 4 to 7 can cause an exception. Level 7 is a level triggered non-maskable interrupt (NMI). Level 1 can be interrupted by any higher level. Level 0 means no interrupt. The level
2147-487: A hinged second panel containing a flat display screen. Closing the laptop protects the screen and keyboard during transportation. Laptops generally have a rechargeable battery , enhancing their portability. To save power, weight and space, laptop graphics chips are in many cases integrated into the CPU or chipset and use system RAM, resulting in reduced graphics performance when compared to desktop machines, that more typically have
2260-408: A keyboard or mouse can be connected. Smartphones are often similar to tablet computers , the difference being that smartphones always have cellular integration. They are generally smaller than tablets, and may not have a slate form factor. The ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) is a small tablet computer . It was developed by Microsoft , Intel and Samsung , among others. Current UMPCs typically feature
2373-540: A larger screen or use with video projectors. IBM PC-compatible suitcase format computers became available soon after the introduction of the PC, with the Compaq Portable being a leading example of the type. Later models included a hard drive to give roughly equivalent performance to contemporary desktop computers. The development of thin plasma display and LCD screens permitted a somewhat smaller form factor, called
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#17327918844042486-465: A little more expensive compared to desktops, as the miniaturized components for laptops themselves are expensive. Notebook computers such as the TRS-80 Model 100 and Epson HX-20 had roughly the plan dimensions of a sheet of typing paper ( ANSI A or ISO A4 ). These machines had a keyboard with slightly reduced dimensions compared to a desktop system, and a fixed LCD display screen coplanar with
2599-437: A logically flat 32-bit address space , while accessing only a 24-bit physical address space. Motorola's intent with the internal 32-bit address space was forward compatibility, making it feasible to write 68000 software that would take full advantage of later 32-bit implementations of the 68000 instruction set. However, this did not prevent programmers from writing forward incompatible software. "24-bit" software that discarded
2712-739: A microprocessor, the Intel 8008 . It was built starting in 1972, and a few hundred units were sold. This had been preceded by the Datapoint 2200 in 1970, for which the Intel 8008 had been commissioned, though not accepted for use. The CPU design implemented in the Datapoint 2200 became the basis for x86 architecture used in the original IBM PC and its descendants. In 1973, the IBM Los Gatos Scientific Center developed
2825-413: A minimum instruction size of 16 bits. Many instructions and addressing modes are longer to include more address or mode bits. The CPU, and later the whole family, implements two levels of privilege. User mode gives access to everything except privileged instructions such as interrupt level controls. Supervisor privilege gives access to everything. An interrupt always becomes supervisory. The supervisor bit
2938-481: A new naming scheme: devices without an integrated phone are called Windows Mobile Classic instead of Pocket PC, while devices with an integrated phone and a touch screen are called Windows Mobile Professional. Palmtop PCs were miniature pocket-sized computers running DOS that first came about in the late 1980s, typically in a clamshell form factor with a keyboard. Non-x86 based devices were often called palmtop computers, examples being Psion Series 3 . In later years
3051-406: A preview of features that would later become staples of personal computers: e-mail , hypertext , word processing , video conferencing , and the mouse . The demonstration required technical support staff and a mainframe time-sharing computer that were far too costly for individual business use at the time. Early personal computers—generally called microcomputers—were often sold in
3164-560: A second-source maker of the CMOS 68HC000 (TMP68HC000). Encrypted variants of the 68000, being the Hitachi FD1089 and FD1094, store decryption keys for opcodes and opcode data in battery-backed memory and were used in certain Sega arcade systems including System 16 to prevent piracy and illegal bootleg games. The 68HC000, the first CMOS version of the 68000, was designed by Hitachi and jointly introduced in 1985. Motorola's version
3277-615: A shared mainframe computer system was demonstrated as early as 1973 in the Community Memory project, but bulletin board systems and online service providers became more commonly available after 1978. Commercial Internet service providers emerged in the late 1980s, giving public access to the rapidly growing network. In 1991, the World Wide Web was made available for public use. The combination of powerful personal computers with high-resolution graphics and sound, with
3390-655: A television already in the home as the computer display, with low-detail blocky graphics and a limited color range, and text about 40 characters wide by 25 characters tall. Sinclair Research , a UK company, produced the ZX Series—;the ZX80 (1980), ZX81 (1981), and the ZX Spectrum ; the latter was introduced in 1982, and totaled 8 million unit sold. Following came the Commodore 64 , totaled 17 million units sold,
3503-406: A time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems . Workstations are used for tasks such as computer-aided design , drafting and modeling, computation-intensive scientific and engineering calculations, image processing, architectural modeling, and computer graphics for animation and motion picture visual effects. Before the widespread use of PCs,
NXP ColdFire - Misplaced Pages Continue
3616-601: A wide range of users, not just experienced electronics hobbyists who had the soldering skills to assemble a computer kit. The Apple I as delivered was still technically a kit computer, as it did not have a power supply, case, or keyboard when it was delivered to the Byte Shop. The first successfully mass-marketed personal computer to be announced was the Commodore PET after being revealed in January 1977. However, it
3729-542: Is a desktop computer that generally comprises a high-performance video card , processor and RAM, to improve the speed and responsiveness of demanding video games . An all-in-one computer (also known as single-unit PCs) is a desktop computer that combines the monitor and processor within a single unit. A separate keyboard and mouse are standard input devices, with some monitors including touchscreen capability. The processor and other working components are typically reduced in size relative to standard desktops, located behind
3842-495: Is a portable computer that provides the full capabilities of a desktop computer . Such computers are currently large laptops. This class of computers usually includes more powerful components and a larger display than generally found in smaller portable computers, and may have limited battery capacity or no battery. Netbooks , also called mini notebooks or subnotebooks , were a subgroup of laptops suited for general computing tasks and accessing web-based applications . Initially,
3955-474: Is also powered by the 68000. Later processors in the Motorola 68000 series , beginning with the Motorola 68020 , use full 32-bit ALUs and have full 32-bit address and data buses, speeding up 32-bit operations and allowing 32-bit addressing, rather than the 24-bit addressing of the 68000 and 68010 or the 31-bit addressing of the Motorola 68012 . The original 68k is generally software forward-compatible with
4068-567: Is also the CPU of the Sega Pico , a young childrens' educational game console. The multi-processor Atari Jaguar console from 1993 used a 68000 as a support chip, although, due to familiarity, some developers used it as the primary processor. The 1994 Sega Saturn console used the 68000 as a sound co-processor. In October 1995, the 68000 made it into a handheld game console , Sega's Genesis Nomad , as its CPU. Certain arcade games (such as Steel Gunner and others based on Namco System 2 ) use
4181-771: Is called the MC68HC000, while Hitachi's is the HD68HC000. The 68HC000 offers speeds of 8–20 MHz. Except for using CMOS circuitry, it behaved identically to the HMOS MC68000, but the change to CMOS greatly reduced its power consumption. The original HMOS MC68000 consumed around 1.35 watts at an ambient temperature of 25 °C , regardless of clock speed, while the MC68HC000 consumed only 0.13 watts at 8 MHz and 0.38 watts at 20 MHz. (Unlike CMOS circuits, HMOS still draws power when idle, so power consumption varies little with clock rate.) Apple selected
4294-466: Is most often proprietary, or free and open-source software , which is provided in ready-to-run , or binary form. Software for personal computers is typically developed and distributed independently from the hardware or operating system manufacturers. Many personal computer users no longer need to write their programs to make any use of a personal computer, although end-user programming is still feasible. This contrasts with mobile systems, where software
4407-521: Is much faster than the 68060 , which can officially reach 75 MHz and can be overclocked to 110 MHz. Stallion Technologies ePipe, Secure Computing SnapGear security appliances , and Arcturus Networks 's System on Module products are based on ColdFire processors. There are ColdFire Linux-based single-board computers (SBC) with Ethernet and CompactFlash as small as 23×55 mm or 45×45 mm or based on CompactFlash (37×43 mm) itself. ColdFire based products have even been deployed to
4520-527: Is not used with personal computers. The term home computer has also been used, primarily in the late 1970s and 1980s. The advent of personal computers and the concurrent Digital Revolution have significantly affected the lives of people. Institutional or corporate computer owners in the 1960s had to write their own programs to do any useful work with computers. While personal computer users may develop their applications, usually these systems run commercial software , free-of-charge software (" freeware "), which
4633-501: Is now available under Free license (and no per use royalty) for Altera Cyclone-III FPGA's. In September 2007, Freescale launched the 32-bit Flexis microcontroller family with a ColdFire CPU core. In June 2010, Freescale announced the ColdFire+ line, which is a ColdFire V1 core using a 90 nm TFS technology. In 2010, Freescale also launched Kinetis, an ARM -based product line, leading some industry observers to speculate about
NXP ColdFire - Misplaced Pages Continue
4746-400: Is often available only through a manufacturer-supported channel, and end-user program development may be discouraged by lack of support by the manufacturer. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems (first with MS-DOS and then with Windows ) and Intel hardware – collectively called Wintel – have dominated the personal computer market, and today the term PC normally refers to
4859-410: Is separate from the carry flag . This permits the extra bit from arithmetic, logic, and shift operations to be separated from the carry multiprecision arithmetic . The designers attempted to make the assembly language orthogonal . That is, instructions are divided into operations and address modes , and almost all address modes are available for almost all instructions. There are 56 instructions and
4972-458: Is stored in the status register, and is visible to user programs. An advantage of this system is that the supervisor level has a separate stack pointer. This permits a multitasking system to use very small stacks for tasks, because the designers do not have to allocate the memory required to hold the stack frames of a maximum stack-up of interrupts. The CPU recognizes seven interrupt levels. Levels 1 through 5 are strictly prioritized. That is,
5085-412: Is stored in the status register, and is visible to user-level programs. Hardware interrupts are signalled to the CPU using three inputs that encode the highest pending interrupt priority. A separate encoder is usually required to encode the interrupts, though for systems that do not require more than three hardware interrupts it is possible to connect the interrupt signals directly to the encoded inputs at
5198-450: The 68020 and 88000 projects. Several other companies were second-source manufacturers of the HMOS 68000. These included Hitachi (HD68000), who shrank the feature size to 2.7 μm for their 12.5 MHz version, Mostek (MK68000), Rockwell (R68000), Signetics (SCN68000), Thomson / SGS-Thomson (originally EF68000 and later TS68000), and Toshiba (TMP68000). Toshiba was also
5311-540: The 680x0 , CPU32 , and Coldfire families, were also still in production. More recently, with the Sendai fab closure, all 68HC000, 68020, 68030, and 68882 parts have been discontinued, leaving only the 68SEC000 in production. Since being succeeded by "true" 32-bit microprocessors, the 68000 is used as the core of many microcontrollers . In 1989, Motorola introduced the MC68302 communications processor. IBM considered
5424-544: The 68881 and 68882 coprocessors . The instructions are only 16, 32, or 48 bits long, a simplification compared to the 68000 series . In February 1999, the μClinux project's Linux kernel was ported to two ColdFire processors (MCF5206 and MCF5307). In 2006, the Debian project was looking into making its m68k port compatible with the ColdFires, as there are ColdFire models that can be clocked as high as 300 MHz. This
5537-536: The Apple I computer circuit board, which was fully prepared and contained about 30 chips. The Apple I computer differed from the other kit-style hobby computers of era. At the request of Paul Terrell , owner of the Byte Shop , Jobs and Wozniak were given their first purchase order, for 50 Apple I computers, only if the computers were assembled and tested and not a kit computer. Terrell wanted to have computers to sell to
5650-590: The Bendix G15 and LGP-30 of 1956, and the Soviet MIR series of computers developed from 1965 to 1969. By the early 1970s, people in academic or research institutions had the opportunity for single-person use of a computer system in interactive mode for extended durations, although these systems would still have been too expensive to be owned by a single person. The personal computer was made possible by major advances in semiconductor technology. In 1959,
5763-670: The Data General Nova or PDP-8 . Based on the semiconductor manufacturing processes of the era, these were often multi-chip solutions like the National Semiconductor IMP-16 , or the single-chip PACE that had issues with speed. With the sales prospects for the 6800 dimming, but still cash-flush from the engine control sales, in late 1976 Colin Crook, Operations Manager, began considering how to successfully win future sales. They were aware that Intel
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#17327918844045876-656: The Galaksija (1983) introduced in Yugoslavia and the Amstrad CPC series (464–6128). In the same year, the NEC PC-98 was introduced, which was a very popular personal computer that sold in more than 18 million units. Another famous personal computer, the revolutionary Amiga 1000 , was unveiled by Commodore on 23 July 1985. The Amiga 1000 featured a multitasking, windowing operating system, color graphics with
5989-624: The IBM Personal Computer incorporated the designation into its model name, the term originally described personal computers of any brand. In some contexts, PC is used to contrast with Mac, an Apple Macintosh computer. Since none of these Apple products were mainframes or time-sharing systems, they were all personal computers but not PC (brand) computers. In 1995, a CBS segment on the growing popularity of PC reported: "For many newcomers PC stands for Pain and Confusion." The "brain" [computer] may one day come down to our level [of
6102-838: The International Space Station as an electronic nose project. There are five generations or versions of the ColdFire available from Freescale: There is also the Fido 1100, a microcontroller launched in 2007 aimed at predictable embedded control systems such as Industrial Ethernet applications using the 68k/CPU32 instruction set. However, Fido has its own unique architecture and shares the instruction set with 68k only. In November 2006, Freescale announced that ColdFire microprocessor cores were available for license as semiconductor Intellectual Property through their IP licensing and support partner IPextreme Inc. ColdFire v1 core
6215-542: The Macintosh moved from the 6809 to the 68k. The average price eventually reached $ 14.76. In 1982, the 68000 received a minor update to its instruction set architecture (ISA) to support virtual memory and to conform to the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements . The updated chip is called the 68010 . It also adds a new "loop mode" which speeds up small loops, and increases overall performance by about 10% at
6328-510: The Motorola 68000 Educational Computer Board , a single-board computer for educational and training purposes which in addition to the 68000 itself contained memory, I/O devices, programmable timer and wire-wrap area for custom circuitry. The board remained in use in US colleges as a tool for learning assembly programming until the early 1990s. At its introduction, the 68000 was first used in high-priced systems, including multiuser microcomputers like
6441-858: The Palm PDAs and the Handspring Visor used the DragonBall , a derivative of the 68000. AlphaSmart used the DragonBall family in later versions of its portable word processors. Texas Instruments used the 68000 in its high-end graphing calculators, the TI-89 and TI-92 series and Voyage 200 . A modified version of the 68000 formed the basis of the IBM XT/370 hardware emulator of the System 370 processor. Video game manufacturers used
6554-572: The WICAT 150, early Alpha Microsystems computers, Sage II / IV , Tandy 6000 / TRS-80 Model 16 , and Fortune 32:16 ; single-user workstations such as Hewlett-Packard 's HP 9000 Series 200 systems, the first Apollo/Domain systems, Sun Microsystems ' Sun-1 , and the Corvus Concept ; and graphics terminals like Digital Equipment Corporation 's VAXstation 100 and Silicon Graphics ' IRIS 1000 and 1200. Unix systems rapidly moved to
6667-405: The lunchbox computer. The screen formed one side of the enclosure, with a detachable keyboard and one or two half-height floppy disk drives, mounted facing the ends of the computer. Some variations included a battery, allowing operation away from AC outlets. A laptop computer is designed for portability with clamshell design, where the keyboard and computer components are on one panel, with
6780-460: The silicon integrated circuit (IC) chip was developed by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor , and the metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) transistor was developed by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs . The MOS integrated circuit was commercialized by RCA in 1964, and then the silicon-gate MOS integrated circuit was developed by Federico Faggin at Fairchild in 1968. Faggin later used silicon-gate MOS technology to develop
6893-661: The "1977 trinity". Mass-market, ready-assembled computers had arrived, and allowed a wider range of people to use computers, focusing more on software applications and less on development of the processor hardware. In 1977 the Heath company introduced personal computer kits known as Heathkits , starting with the Heathkit H8 , followed by the Heathkit H89 in late 1979. With the purchase of the Heathkit H8 you would obtain
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#17327918844047006-439: The 1990s in low-end printers. The 68000 was successful in the field of industrial control systems. Among the systems benefited from having a 68000 or derivative as their microprocessor were families of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) manufactured by Allen-Bradley , Texas Instruments and subsequently, following the acquisition of that division of TI, by Siemens . Users of such systems do not accept product obsolescence at
7119-550: The 6800, as they felt the 8-bit designs were too limited to be the basis for new designs. The new system was influenced by the PDP-11 , the most popular minicomputer design of the era. At the time, a key concept in minis was the concept of an orthogonal instruction set , in which every operation was allowed to work on any sort of data. To feed the correct data into the internal units, MACSS made extensive use of microcode , essentially small programs in read only memory that gathered up
7232-450: The 68000 (including the 9400/9400A) can also perform fast Fourier transform functions on a waveform. The 683XX microcontrollers, based on the 68000 architecture, are used in networking and telecom equipment, television set-top boxes, laboratory and medical instruments, and even handheld calculators. The MC68302 and its derivatives have been used in many telecom products from Cisco, 3com, Ascend, Marconi, Cyclades and others. Past models of
7345-528: The 68000 as the backbone of many arcade games and home game consoles : Atari's Food Fight , from 1982, was one of the first 68000-based arcade games. Others included Sega 's System 16 , Capcom 's CP System and CPS-2 , and SNK 's Neo Geo . By the late 1980s, the 68000 was inexpensive enough to power home game consoles, such as Sega's Genesis console, and also the Sega CD attachment for it (a Sega CD system has three CPUs, two of them 68000s.) The 68000
7458-407: The 68000 for the IBM PC but chose the Intel 8088 ; however, IBM Instruments briefly sold the 68000-based IBM System 9000 laboratory computer systems. The 68k instruction set is particularly well suited to implement Unix, and the 68000 and its successors became the dominant CPUs for Unix-based workstations including Sun workstations and Apollo/Domain workstations. In 1981, Motorola introduced
7571-503: The 68000 itself had to succeed despite initially adopting a metal-gate design. Though the point about playing catch-up is clear, this could not have been an entirely accurate summary because Motorola's 1976 datasheets, predating the inception of the MACCS project, denote the majority of its 6800 family in silicon-gate. Indeed, Gunter's own 1979 article introducing the 68000 highlighted it as a silicon-gate depletion-mode HMOS design. Whatever
7684-472: The 68000 to respond quickly to interrupts (even in the worst case where all 8 data registers D0–D7 and 7 address registers A0–A6 needed to be saved, 15 registers in total), and yet large enough to make most calculations fast, because they could be done entirely within the processor without keeping any partial results in memory. (Note that an exception routine in supervisor mode can also save the user stack pointer A7, which would total 8 address registers. However,
7797-685: The 68HC000 for use in the Macintosh Portable . Motorola replaced the MC68008 with the MC68HC001 in 1990. This chip resembles the 68HC000 in most respects, but its data bus can operate in either 16-bit or 8-bit mode, depending on the value of an input pin at reset. Thus, like the 68008, it can be used in systems with cheaper 8-bit memories. The later evolution of the 68000 focused on more modern embedded control applications and on-chip peripherals. The 68EC000 chip and SCM68000 core remove
7910-555: The 8-bit Intel 8080 Microprocessor, the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution as the first commercially successful personal computer. The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus , and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC . In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold
8023-550: The Imagen Imprint-10 were controlled by external boards equipped with the 68000. The first HP LaserJet , introduced in 1984, came with a built-in 8 MHz 68000. Other printer manufacturers adopted the 68000, including Apple with its introduction of the LaserWriter in 1985, the first PostScript laser printer. The 68000 continued to be widely used in printers throughout the rest of the 1980s, persisting well into
8136-632: The M6800 peripheral bus, and exclude the MOVE from SR instruction from user mode programs, making the 68EC000 and 68SEC000 the only 68000 CPUs not 100% object code compatible with previous 68000 CPUs when run in User Mode. When run in Supervisor Mode, there is no difference. In 1996, Motorola updated the standalone core with fully static circuitry, drawing only 2 μW in low-power mode, calling it
8249-736: The MC68000, the fastest version of the original HMOS chip, was not produced until the late 1980s. By the start of 1981, the 68k was winning orders in the high end, and Gunter began to approach Apple to win their business. At that time, the 68k sold for about $ 125 in quantity. In meetings with Steve Jobs , Jobs talked about using the 68k in the Apple Lisa , but stated "the real future is in this product that I'm personally doing. If you want this business, you got to commit that you'll sell it for $ 15." Motorola countered by offering to sell it at $ 55 at first, then step down to $ 35, and so on. Jobs agreed, and
8362-518: The MC68SEC000. Motorola ceased production of the HMOS MC68000, as well as the MC68008, MC68010, MC68330, and MC68340 in on June 1, 1996, but its spin-off company Freescale Semiconductor was still producing the MC68HC000, MC68HC001, MC68EC000, and MC68SEC000, as well as the MC68302 and MC68306 microcontrollers and later versions of the DragonBall family. The 68000's architectural descendants,
8475-549: The Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Linux operating system , and low-voltage Intel Atom or VIA C7-M processors. A pocket PC is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer ( personal digital assistant , PDA) that runs the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system . It may have the capability to run an alternative operating system like NetBSD or Linux . Pocket PCs have many of
8588-473: The ability to be programmed in both APL and BASIC for engineers, analysts, statisticians, and other business problem-solvers. In the late 1960s such a machine would have been nearly as large as two desks and would have weighed about half a ton. Another desktop portable APL machine, the MCM/70 , was demonstrated in 1973 and shipped in 1974. It used the Intel 8008 processor. A seminal step in personal computing
8701-477: The capabilities of desktop PCs . Numerous applications are available for handhelds adhering to the Microsoft Pocket PC specification, many of which are freeware . Microsoft-compliant Pocket PCs can also be used with many other add-ons like GPS receivers , barcode readers, RFID readers and cameras. In 2007, with the release of Windows Mobile 6, Microsoft dropped the name Pocket PC in favor of
8814-577: The chassis and CPU card to assemble yourself, additional hardware such as the H8-1 memory board that contained 4k of RAM could also be purchased in order to run software. The Heathkit H11 model was released in 1978 and was one of the first 16-bit personal computers; however, due to its high retail cost of $ 1,295 was discontinued in 1982. During the early 1980s, home computers were further developed for household use, with software for personal productivity, programming and games. They typically could be used with
8927-673: The common people] and help with our income-tax and book-keeping calculations. But this is speculation and there is no sign of it so far. In the history of computing , early experimental machines could be operated by a single attendant. For example, ENIAC which became operational in 1946 could be run by a single, albeit highly trained, person. This mode pre-dated the batch programming, or time-sharing modes with multiple users connected through terminals to mainframe computers. Computers intended for laboratory, instrumentation, or engineering purposes were built, and could be operated by one person in an interactive fashion. Examples include such systems as
9040-562: The cost of more software complexity. The interrupt controller can be as simple as a 74LS148 priority encoder, or may be part of a very large-scale integration (VLSI) peripheral chip such as the MC68901 Multi-Function Peripheral (used in the Atari ST range of computers and X68000 ), which also provides a UART , timer, and parallel I/O. Personal computer A personal computer , often referred to as
9153-694: The degree of Motorola's process and manufacturing deficits in the early days, the team was undeterred and would not compromise in its pursuit of a microprocessor with industry-leading performance. Formally introduced in September 1979, initial samples were released in February 1980, with production chips available over the counter in November. Initial speed grades were 4, 6, and 8 MHz . 10 MHz chips became available during 1981, and 12.5 MHz chips by June 1982. The 16.67 MHz "12F" version of
9266-416: The dual stack pointer (A7 and supervisor-mode A7') design of the 68000 makes this normally unnecessary, except when a task switch is performed in a multitasking system.) Having the two types of registers allows one 32-bit address and one 16-bit data calculation to take place at the same time. This results in reduced instruction execution time as addresses and data can be processed in parallel. The 68000 has
9379-617: The end of 1976. Crook formed the Motorola Advanced Computer System on Silicon (MACSS) project to build the design and hired Tom Gunter to be its principal architect. Gunter began forming his team in January 1977. The performance goal was set at 1 million instructions per second (MIPS). They wanted the design to not only win back microcomputer vendors like Apple Computer and Tandy , but also minicomputer companies like NCR and AT&T . The team decided to abandon an attempt at backward compatibility with
9492-479: The first single-chip microprocessor , the Intel 4004 , in 1971. The first microcomputers , based on microprocessors, were developed during the early 1970s. Widespread commercial availability of microprocessors, from the mid-1970s onwards, made computers cheap enough for small businesses and individuals to own. In what was later to be called the Mother of All Demos , SRI researcher Douglas Engelbart in 1968 gave
9605-409: The first widely available processors with a 32-bit instruction set, large unsegmented address space, and relatively high speed for the era, the 68k was a popular design through the 1980s. It was widely used in a new generation of personal computers with graphical user interfaces , including the Macintosh 128K , Amiga , Atari ST , and X68000 . The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive console, released in 1988,
9718-407: The future of the ColdFire range, given that Freescale would have several competing CPU ranges. Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor , introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector. The design implements
9831-556: The infrastructure provided by the Internet, and the standardization of access methods of the Web browsers , established the foundation for a significant fraction of modern life, from bus time tables through unlimited distribution of free videos through to online user-edited encyclopedias. A workstation is a high-end personal computer designed for technical, mathematical, or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at
9944-519: The introduction of the IBM PC, portable computers consisting of a processor, display, disk drives and keyboard, in a suit-case style portable housing, allowed users to bring a computer home from the office or to take notes at a classroom. Examples include the Osborne 1 and Kaypro ; and the Commodore SX-64 . These machines were AC-powered and included a small CRT display screen. The form factor
10057-549: The keyboard. These displays were usually small, with 8 to 16 lines of text, sometimes only 40 columns line length. However, these machines could operate for extended times on disposable or rechargeable batteries. Although they did not usually include internal disk drives, this form factor often included a modem for telephone communication and often had provisions for external cassette or disk storage. Later, clamshell format laptop computers with similar small plan dimensions were also called notebooks . A desktop replacement computer
10170-421: The market. In order to compete, they set themselves the goal of being two times as powerful at the same cost, or one-half the cost with the same performance. Crook decided that they would attack the high-end of the market with the most powerful processor on the market. Another 16-bit would not do, their design would have to be bigger, and that meant having some 32-bit features. Crook had decided on this approach by
10283-399: The monitor, and configured similarly to laptops. A nettop computer was introduced by Intel in February 2008, characterized by low cost and lean functionality. These were intended to be used with an Internet connection to run Web browsers and Internet applications. A Home theater PC (HTPC) combines the functions of a personal computer and a digital video recorder . It is connected to
10396-543: The more capable later generations of the 68k line, which remained popular in that market throughout the 1980s. By the mid-1980s, falling production cost made the 68000 viable for use in personal computers starting with the Apple Lisa and Macintosh , and followed by the Amiga , Atari ST , and X68000 . The Sinclair QL microcomputer, along with its derivatives, such as the ICL One Per Desk business terminal,
10509-527: The other 68000 CPUs) was used in the Jaleco arcade game Wild Pilot for input/output (I/O) processing. The 68000 has a 24-bit external address bus and two byte-select signals "replaced" A0. These 24 lines can therefore address 16 MB of physical memory with byte resolution. Address storage and computation uses 32 bits internally; however, the 8 high-order address bits are ignored due to the physical lack of device pins. This allows it to run software written for
10622-503: The primary defining characteristic of netbooks was the lack of an optical disc drive, smaller size, and lower performance than full-size laptops. By mid-2009 netbooks had been offered to users "free of charge", with an extended service contract purchase of a cellular data plan. Ultrabooks and Chromebooks have since filled the gap left by Netbooks. Unlike the generic Netbook name, Ultrabook and Chromebook are technically both specifications by Intel and Google respectively. A tablet uses
10735-417: The release of the 1989 Mac IIci. The 68000 family stores multi-byte integers in memory in big-endian order. The CPU has eight 32-bit general-purpose data registers (D0-D7), and eight address registers (A0-A7). The last address register is the stack pointer , and assemblers accept the label SP as equivalent to A7. This was a good number of registers at the time in many ways. It was small enough to allow
10848-508: The required data, performed the operations and wrote out the results. MACSS was among the first to use this technique in a microprocessor. There was a large amount of support hardware for the 6800 that would remain useful, things like UARTs and similar interfacing systems. For this reason, the new design retained a bus protocol compatibility mode for existing 6800 peripheral devices. A chip with 32 data and 32 addressing pins would require 64 pins, plus more for power and other features. At
10961-443: The required hardware and software needed to add television programming to the PC, or can be assembled from components. Keyboard computers are computers inside of keyboards, generally still designed to be connected to an external computer monitor or television . Examples include the Atari ST , Amstrad CPC , BBC Micro , Commodore 64 , MSX , Raspberry Pi 400 , and the ZX Spectrum . The potential utility of portable computers
11074-415: The rest of the line despite being limited to a 16-bit wide external bus. After 45 years in production , the 68000 architecture is still in use. Motorola's first widely produced microprocessor was the 6800 , introduced in early 1974 and available in quantity late that year. The company set itself the goal of selling 25,000 units by September 1976, a goal they did meet. Although a capable design, it
11187-423: The same clock speeds. A further extended version, which exposes 31 bits of the address bus, was also produced in small quantities as the 68012 . To support lower-cost systems and control applications with smaller memory sizes, Motorola introduced the 8-bit compatible MC68008 , also in 1982. This is a 68000 with an 8-bit data bus and a smaller (20-bit) address bus. After 1982, Motorola devoted more attention to
11300-611: The same rate as domestic users, and it is entirely likely that despite having been installed over 20 years ago, many 68000-based controllers will continue in reliable service well into the 21st century. In a number of digital oscilloscopes from the 80s, the 68000 has been used as a waveform display processor; some models including the LeCroy 9400/9400A also use the 68000 as a waveform math processor (including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of two waveforms/references/waveform memories), and some digital oscilloscopes using
11413-418: The systems hardware components such as the motherboard , processor chip and other internal operating parts. Desktop computers have an external monitor with a display screen and an external keyboard, which are plugged into ports on the back of the computer case. Desktop computers are popular for home and business computing applications as they leave space on the desk for multiple monitors . A gaming computer
11526-422: The time, 64-pin dual inline package (DIP)s were "large, heavy-cost" systems and "just terrible", making that the largest they could consider. To make it fit, Crook selected a hybrid design, with a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) but 16-bit components implementing it, like the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The external interface was reduced to 16 data pins and 24 for addresses, allowing it all to fit in
11639-521: The ubiquitous Wintel platform. Alternatives to Windows occupy a minority share of the market; these include the Mac platform from Apple (running the macOS operating system), and free and open-source , Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux . Other notable platforms until the 1990s were the Amiga from Commodore , and the PC-98 from NEC . The term PC is an initialism for personal computer. While
11752-464: The upper address byte, or used it for purposes other than addressing, could fail on 32-bit 68000 implementations. For example, early (pre-7.0) versions of Apple's Mac OS used the high byte of memory-block master pointers to hold flags such as locked and purgeable . Later versions of the OS moved the flags to a nearby location, and Apple began shipping computers which had " 32-bit clean " ROMs beginning with
11865-508: Was apparent early on. Alan Kay described the Dynabook in 1972, but no hardware was developed. The Xerox NoteTaker was produced in a very small experimental batch around 1978. In 1975, the IBM 5100 could be fit into a transport case, making it a portable computer, but it weighed about 50 pounds. Such early portable computers were termed luggables by journalists owing to their heft. Before
11978-705: Was back-ordered and not available until later that year. Three months later (April), the Apple II (usually referred to as the Apple) was announced with the first units being shipped 10 June 1977, and the TRS-80 from Tandy Corporation / Tandy Radio Shack following in August 1977, which sold over 100,000 units during its lifetime. Together, especially in the North American market, these 3 machines were referred to as
12091-466: Was built using the latest 5-inch wafer sizes and Intel's HMOS process with a 3.5 μm feature size. This was an investment aimed at catching the competition: even upstart semiconductor companies such as Zilog and MOS Technology had introduced CPUs fabricated on depletion-mode NMOS logic before Motorola did. In fact, Motorola may have substantially lagged contemporaries in phasing out enhancement mode and metal gate, with Gunter recollecting that
12204-580: Was eclipsed by more powerful designs, such as the Zilog Z80 , and less expensive designs, such as the MOS Technology 6502 . By late 1976, the sales book was flat and the division was only saved by a project for General Motors that turned into a huge product line for engine control and other tasks. By the time the 6800 was introduced, a small number of 16-bit designs had come to market. These were generally modeled on minicomputer platforms like
12317-401: Was intended to allow these systems to be taken on board an airplane as carry-on baggage, though their high power demand meant that they could not be used in flight. The integrated CRT display made for a relatively heavy package, but these machines were more portable than their contemporary desktop equals. Some models had standard or optional connections to drive an external video monitor, allowing
12430-453: Was the 1973 Xerox Alto , developed at Xerox 's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) . It had a graphical user interface ( GUI ) which later served as inspiration for Apple's Macintosh , and Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Alto was a demonstration project, not commercialized, as the parts were too expensive to be affordable. Also in 1973 Hewlett Packard introduced fully BASIC programmable microcomputers that fit entirely on top of
12543-500: Was the first to emulate APL/1130 performance on a portable, single user computer, PC Magazine in 1983 designated SCAMP a "revolutionary concept" and "the world's first personal computer". This seminal, single user portable computer now resides in the Smithsonian Institution , Washington, D.C.. Successful demonstrations of the 1973 SCAMP prototype led to the IBM 5100 portable microcomputer launched in 1975 with
12656-751: Was the most commercially important utilisation of the 68008. Helix Systems (in Missouri, United States) designed an extension to the SWTPC SS-50 bus , the SS-64, and produced systems built around the 68008 processor. While the adoption of RISC and x86 displaced the 68000 series as desktop/workstation CPU, the processor found substantial use in embedded applications. By the early 1990s, quantities of 68000 CPUs could be purchased for less than 30 USD per part. The 68000 also saw great success as an embedded controller. As early as 1981, laser printers such as
12769-457: Was working on a 16-bit extension of their 8080 series, which would emerge as the Intel 8086 , and had heard rumors of a 16-bit Zilog Z80 , which became the Z8000 . These would use new design techniques that would eliminate the problems seen in earlier 16-bit systems. Motorola knew that if they launched a product similar to the 8086, within 10% of its capabilities, Intel would outperform them in
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