Motorola 68EC000
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The 68EC000 is a microprocessor from Motorola. It is a low-cost version of the Motorola 68000, designed for embedded controller applications. The 68EC000 can have either a 8-bit or 16-bit data bus, switchable at reset.[1]
The processors are available in a variety of speeds including 8 and 16 MHz configurations, producing 2,100 and 4,376 Dhrystones each. These processors have no floating point unit and it is difficult to implement a FPU coprocessor (MC68881/2) with one because the EC series lacks necessary coprocessor instructions.
The 68EC000 was used as a controller in many audio applications, including Ensoniq musical instruments and sound cards where it was part of the MIDI synthesizer.[2] On Ensoniq sound boards, the controller provided several advantages compared to competitors without a CPU onboard. The processor allowed the board to be configured to perform various audio tasks, such as MPU-401 MIDI synthesis or MT-32 emulation, without the use of a TSR program. This improved software compatibility, lowered CPU usage, and eliminated host system memory usage.
The Motorola 68EC000 core was later used in the m68k-based Dragonball processors from Motorola/Freescale.
It also was used as a sound controller in the Sega Saturn game console.
[edit] References
- ^ Boys, Robert. M68k Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), comp.sys.m68k, October 19, 1994.
- ^ Soundscape Elite Specs. from Fax Sheet, Google Groups, April 25, 1995.
| List of Motorola/Freescale microprocessors | |
|---|---|
| The 6800 family : | 6809 (see also: Hitachi 6309) |
| 68000 family : | 68000 | 68008 | 68010 | 68012 | 68020 | 68030 | 68040 | 68060 | ColdFire | DragonBall |
| Low-cost variants: | 68EC000 | 68EC020 | 68EC030 | 68EC040 | 68LC040 |
| Pre-PowerPC RISC : | 88000 |
| Floating-point coprocessors : | 68881, 68882 |
| PowerPC family : | PPC 75x ("PowerPC G3") | PPC 74xx ("PowerPC G4") | PowerQUICC |
