On Fri, Apr 9, 2021 at 11:35 AM Paul Ruizendaal via TUHS <
tuhs(a)minnie.tuhs.org> wrote:
On 09/04/2021
11:12, emanuel stiebler wrote: > You're comparing a z80
SBC running CP/M?
Or are you thinking of 68000 SBCs?
Z80 CP/M machines were still competitive in 1981-1983 (Osborne, Kaypro)
I've
never seen a 68k SBC. Have I missed out something along the way? Is
there a
community for 68k SBC's? Kind regards, Andrew
There is an active community around DIY 68k SBCs these days. Some
representative examples:
https://www.eejournal.com/article/wallowing-in-68k-nostalgia/
https://www.ist-schlau.de
https://www.bigmessowires.com/category/68katy/
https://github.com/74hc595/68k-nano
http://mc68k.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html
There are even a couple of fairly advanced 68030 design floating around:
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boards:sbc:gryphon_68030:sta…
https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boards:ecb:kiss-68030:start
(I have a soft spot for 68k.)
- Dan C.
Well, Rob Pike designed one:
http://doc.cat-v.org/bell_labs/blit/
I guess the original hacker scene for the 68K was around Hal Hardenberg’s
newsletter:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTACK_Grounded
The ready-made 68K SBC’s only arrived 1984-1985:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_QL (I think Linus Torvalds owned
one)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000
All these machines are rather similar at the hardware level - 68K
processor, RAM shared between CPU and display. Only the Amiga had a
(simple) hardware GPU.
What set the SUN-1 apart was its MMU, which none of the above have.
What influenced the timing was probably that Motorola made the 68K more
affordable by the mid-80’s.
Paul