Motorola 68k familly's 8th generation processor documentation and tools
The M68140 is the latest incarnation of the now almost 40 years old M68000 processor familly. It is the most powerful descendant of the brillant cpu architecture that set a new level of computing capabilities from the end of the 70s and the early 80s.
Through the 80s, 90s and 00s, the Motorola processors evolved from a 16/32 bits architecture to the most advanced processing unit that set a new threshold in computing farm throughput as well as home entertainment, providing the finest technology and power efficiency for the most affordable price.
- Generation 1, 16 bits ALU/32 bits registers
1979 : 68000 - orthogonal instruction set, 6 bytes prefetch
1982 : 68008 - 8 bits data bus
1982 : 68010 - restartable instruction, virtual memory support
1983 : 68012 - multiprocessing support, 31 bits address bus
- Generation 2, full 32 bits ALU and registers
1984 : 68020 - added addressing modes, external coprocessors
1987 : 68030 - integrated PMMU, 3 stages pipeline
- Generation 3, pipelined
1991 : 68040 - integrated FPU, 6 stages pipeline
1993 : 68050 - canceled, merged with the 68060 project
- Generation 4, superscalar
1994 : 68060 - superscalar, 10 stages pipeline
1996 : 68070 - added 16 bits ISA, integrated SIMD and DSP, pipelined FPU
- Generation 5, full 64 bits and RISC architecture
1999 : 68080 - new core based on the unreleased 88160 CPU, 1 GHz reached
2001 : 68090 - added VLIW ISA, virtualization, improved low power modes
- Generation 6, multi-cores and variable symmetric multi-processing
2004 : 68100 - dual and quad cores, simultaneous hardware multithreading
2007 : 68110 - up to eight cores, added companion core for low power modes
- Generation 7, APU, GPGPU and asymmetric heterogeneous multi-processing
2010 : 68120 - integrated multi-core GPU, UVD and FPGA, massive MCU
2014 : 68130 - 32 cores version, added auto-clustering capabilities
- Generation 8, optronic, fuzzy logic and quantum computing
2017 : 68140 - new hybrid photonic core, integrated FPQA
2021 : 68150 - updated photonic quantum core (outperforming Jiuzhang)
With the introduction of heterogeneous asymetric fuzzy multi processing using fpqa (qubits arrays) as a world first in a consumer available product, Motorola sets another leap forward from its most direct opponent Dec/Cray, often named as "Decay" since they bought Intel in the middle of the 00s.
The new processor stays pin compatible with the 68100 line and up, thanks to the versatile MSocket technology introduced in 2002, and still in use after more than 15 years. The processor itself can be upgraded with more mram cache and qram using the nano simm slots on both sides of the 2 inches wide component.
Using upgraded replicated phase looped light harmonics as internal computation mechanism as well as external transport protocol on multi mode optical paths, the hybrid optronic processor can now achieve breakthrough performances equivalent of the Alpha 21974 running at 66.6 GHz but with only a 42 W TDP.