Re: [oc] Interested in helping out

[WM <info@wilhelm.de>]

Hello Andrew,

yes, a 68K core would be very interesting since there is very much software
and the design is not very complex. A clever implementation should have a
chance to get sufficient performance.
To those who don´t know: there was already a 68K clone prototype available.
It was done by a company called International Meta Systems. The IMS 3250
was a high performance emulation engine to emulate both 68K and 80x86. But
the company went bankrupt and Transmeta did it again in a more
sophisticated approach. The Transmeta CPU can turn into a high performance
68K cpu by means of a "simple" (not really simple) software change.

Regarding the 68K architecture I´m not sure but the design is from the late
70th (really!) and as far as there were patents they´re probably obsolete.
Anybody welcome to correct me!
Usually the chance to protect the basic ISA are rather limited. You just
have to avoid to use a too similar hardware architecture or identical
microcode.
A lot of the original 68K instructions uses microcode. 

Just a few years ago 68K was the most popular CPU for embedded
applications. Today MIPS and ARM took over the leading position. As far as
I know there are still more 68K CPUs than 80x86 devices (corrections welcome!)
What most people like most (me too) is that programing 68K in assembly is
very easy.

Best regards
Joerg

At 18:22 26.03.00 -0800, Andrew "Skippy" Martens wrote:

>For a while I was toying with the idea of making a Motorola 68k-compatible
>core, although there's a few issues I have yet to look into:  whether (a)
>Mot would be really hostile to the idea (as ARM appears to be), (b) whether
>there would be any demand for such a core, and (c) the approximate number of
>gates required.  One of the key reasons for doing a 68k core is that I've
>got a lovely set of 68k manuals that Motorola gave me, and because they seem
>to be used all over the place.
>
>If people are really keen on a 68k-compatible core, I'll investigate it
>further and possibly even come up with a development plan.  "Keen" meaning
>"Someone should speak up if they think it's a good idea, and let me know if
>it's a bad idea."  If not, I'd be happy to jump on board any other OpenCores
>project that needs additional manpower (assuming I manage to pick up the
>software I need).
>
>Cheers,
>Andrew "Skippy" Martens
>
>http://www.mp3.com/benzene - tell the world about the sound of Benzene
>http://skippy.dhs.org/ - now with a hideous new design
>
>
>

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