Motorola 68030

Motorola 68030
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Name	Motorola 68030

Motorola 68030. The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor that was released by Motorola in 1987. It is a higher-performance successor to the Motorola 68020, with a similar instruction set architecture (ISA). The 68030 was widely used in Apple Macintosh computers, Amiga systems, and other personal computers of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Overview

The Motorola 68030 was designed to provide improved performance and functionality compared to its predecessor, the Motorola 68020. It included a memory management unit (MMU) and a floating-point unit (FPU) to enhance its capabilities in handling complex tasks. The 68030 was fabricated using Motorola's HCMOS (High-Density CMOS) process, which allowed for higher transistor density and lower power consumption.

Architecture

The 68030 has a RISC-like load/store architecture, with a 32-bit address bus and a 32-bit data bus. It supports virtual memory and paging, with a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) to improve performance. The 68030 also includes a instruction cache and a data cache to further enhance its performance.

Variants

Several variants of the 68030 were produced, including the Motorola 68030LC, which was a lower-power version, and the Motorola 68EC030, which was a lower-cost version with some features disabled. These variants were used in various applications, including embedded systems and personal computers.

Applications

The 68030 was widely used in various Apple Macintosh computers, including the Macintosh II and Macintosh III, as well as in Amiga systems, such as the Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000. It was also used in other personal computers, including Sun Microsystems' Sun-3 workstations and NeXT computers.

Technical specifications

* **Clock speed**: 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 25 MHz * **Address bus**: 32-bit * **Data bus**: 32-bit * **Transistors**: 68030 has around 134,000 transistors * **Process**: HCMOS * **Instruction set architecture**: Motorola 68000 family

Legacy and successors

The Motorola 68030 was succeeded by the Motorola 68040, which provided further performance improvements and additional features. The 68040 was used in various applications, including Apple Macintosh computers and Amiga systems. The 68030 also played a significant role in the development of the PowerPC architecture, which was jointly developed by IBM, Motorola, and Apple.

Category:Microprocessors