6 Feb
2007
6 Feb
'07
11:03 p.m.
On 2/6/07, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On 2/7/07, Hex Star <hexstar at gmail.com> wrote:
indeed the 68000 sure sounds very complex for a processor...surprisingly so,
thanks for the links that's just what I was looking for (although that sure
is neat that you have a real hardcopy...better keep hold of that vintage
goodie ;-) :-) )
now one thing I've wondered is...how do processors get to working? I mean
all it is is some metal with thin silicon inside...so how do some
transistors and diodes get it from some sheet metal to something that can do
all this? is it really just a billion little diode switch things which
literally act as binary switches (0s and 1s)? always wondered...thanks! :-)
On 2/6/07, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at
gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2/6/07, Hex Star <hexstar at gmail.com> wrote:
> > well what's a software trap? something that traps data?
>
> Nope. Something that traps program execution. If you dig into the
> Motorola documentation for the 68000 processor, there's a number of
> pages (a whole chapter?) dedicated to how the trap architecture
works....
ah wow...sounds like the detailed descriptions would be interesting to
read
(and the processor is alot more complex then one
would think)...
The 68000 is a lot more like a PDP-11 minicomputer than it is like
microprocessors of the late 1970s (I have some preliminary spec sheets
somewhere with a date around 1979). As such, it's is loaded with
features (and mis-features ;-) and is complex enough to be useful as
an embedded processor (laser printers, intellegent serial cards,
routers...), as a single-user computer (Amiga, Atari ST, etc.) and all
the way up to multi-user box (Perkin-Elmer workstation, Amiga running
Minix, etc.) If you include the 68010, which is 95%+ the same as a
68000 (pin compatible, nearly entirely instruction-set compatible, but
with some trap improvements ;-) you'll find it in several multi-user
contexts (AT&T 3B1, Sun 1, other UNIX workstation-class machines).
It's one of my favorite microprocessors.
where can I
find the documentation on the 68000 processor? thanks! :-)
Hmm... I happen to have a 3rd edition "68000 User's Manual" published
by Motorola in the early 1980s. I always had it handy when I was
banging out Comboard code or Amiga code. If you need it on paper, it
might take a bit of asking around or digging on used book sale sites.
I happened to run across these links after a quick Google...
http://tict.ticalc.org/docs/68kUM.pdf
http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/EC000UM.pdf
http://www.freescale.com/files/archives/doc/ref_manual/M68000PRM.pdf
http://www.freescale.com/files/archives/doc/ref_manual/M68000PRMER.txt
http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/M68000UMAD.pdf
http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/MC68000UM.pdf
http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/MC68000UMAD.pdf
UM == User's Manual
PRM == Programmer's Reference Manual
AD == addendum
Enjoy,
-ethan