Planet m68k
News around Motorola 680x0 CPU computer systems

The advanced Linux distribution Gentoo has been reborn, current Stage 3 tar-balls are available at https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/ (select m68k). Gentoo is a Linux distribution aimed at experienced Linux user that like to have full control over their Linux system. This new Gentoo Linux port has been made possible by the new m68k system support in Qemu (with larger memory support) that permits easier muilding of binary packages for m68k architectures.

Thanks to Adrian Glaubitzs work the m68k backend for the RUST programming language is now making it's way into the official repository as a Tier 3 supported architecture. As more and more linux software (Firefox, libsvg, topgrade, …) and parts of the linux-kernel are written in Rust, this is a very good development as the m68k machines will be able to enjoy modern and secure applications:

• Add m68k-unknown-linux-gnu as new Tier 3 backend
• Add initial support for m68k

Adrian Black shows how to attach an original Mac Classic to a modern HDMI Monitor with a RGB2HDMI (Raspberry Pi Adapter converting RGB signals to HDMI). A nice option to be able to code on the original hardware but using a modern and large screen: https://odysee.com/@adriansdigitalbasement:f/adding-hdmi-to-a-stock-macintosh-classic:2

Action Retro shows the installation of A/UX, the Apple Unix for the m68k Mac machines on a Quadra 700: https://youtu.be/9Phk3qVUPqw

The A/UX preinstalled SD card for SCSI2SD: https://github.com/unxmaal/aux_sdcard

On the May 2021 m68k chat we had Volker Barthelmann as a guest and we've talked about his vbcc compiler, about the history of the project and what makes vbcc special. Volker explained how he collaborates with Frank Wille (author of several assemblers and linkers usable with vbcc), his views of the C programming language and possible future directions of the project.

• vbcc project website: http://compilers.de/vbcc.html
• Youtube Video

This video of a talk from Tom Cully at Linux.Conf.Au in 2019 is still very relevant: https://2019.linux.conf.au/schedule/presentation/256/

Adrian Black from "Adrian's Digital Basement" got a fascinating m68k powered workstation machine from 1985 and posted a first video about the system: https://odysee.com/@adriansdigitalbasement:f/a-very-cool-motorola-68010-powered:7

• SMSQ/E Website
• Slides
• Youtube Video

On http://68k.news/ there is a Internet website news aggregator (sourcing from Google news) in a Netscape 1.1 compatible HTML (tested on an vintage Apple Mac SE/30). There is a discussion about this aggregator over on HackerNews: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26623362

User bolle from Germany over in the https://68kmla.org forums posted his story of how he re-created the Apple Macintosh SE/30 logic board. Impressive work: https://68kmla.org/forums/topic/62451-se30-logicboard-recreation/

There is now an experimental backend for M68k in LLVM that was just added today: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/tree/main/llvm/lib/Target/M68k

Please report any issues to the LLVM bug tracker, and, if necessary link the issue to this umbrella bug: https://bugs.llvm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48791

In February we were all over the place, a lot of interesting links and projects:

• A 32bit 6502 offspring: "A Bit of a Mind Game: The 65000" https://www.randallhyde.com/FunProjects/65000/65000.html
• Feedback from FOSDEM 2021: https://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2021/02/08/fosdem-2021-was-the-best-online-event-ever/
• TLS/SSL for older machines: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/11/fun-with-crypto-ancienne-tls-for.html
• Free UNIX on the m68k Mac? http://www.macbsd.org/ via https://twitter.com/AnachronistJohn/status/1361758650101096453
• NEXT COMMODORE USERS - EUROPE EVENT: 12th of June 2021 !!! http://commodore-users.eu/
• Apple II talks to 3D printer https://hackaday.com/2021/02/21/apple-ii-talks-to-3d-printer-with-a-little-modern-help/
• The GEMDOS Story http://hubbz.de/de/floss/2021-02-18-die-gemdos-story.html
• Recreating the Mac SE logic board: https://hackaday.com/2021/02/08/recreating-the-mac-se-logic-board/
• Replica Amigas: https://hackaday.com/2021/02/17/building-replica-amigas-to-preserve-digital-artwork/
• OMRON LUNA-II running NetBSD/luna68k and mule-1.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1y9cdmLFjw
• Microsoft using an Amiga to promote Windows: https://twitter.com/WindowsFrance/status/1338483893972963328
• Replacing an 80s LCD With a Modern One on an Amstrad PPC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvn2lBFhioQ
• Did someone tried Fuzix http://fuzix.org/ ? That's a light Unix, made by Alan Cox, that works on Z80, 6502, 6800, 68000, and ESP8266
• There is an interesting video about the process to port Fuzix on ESP8266 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDHcGY7EzUM
• News about Contiki, the open source operating system for the Internet of Things: http://contiki-os.blogspot.com/
• PulkoMandy maintains a 1.x branch of Contiki with retro support: https://github.com/pulkomandy/contiki-1.x
• A self-hosted Ada-inspired programming language for very small systems (including Atari ST). https://github.com/davidgiven/cowgol
• Plan 9: Not dead, Just Resting, by Ori Bernstein https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m3GuoaxRNM
• a multitasking general-purpose operating system for the TI-92 Plus and the TI-89
  • https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/105/10511.html
  • https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://clapcrest.free.fr:80/revol/ti68k/prosit/*
• Punix (Punny Unix) is an operating system developed by Christopher Williams for Texas Instruments calculators based on the Motorola M68000: https://linuxfr.org/news/punix-le-bapteme-du-feu
• SMS/2 (Sinclair QL OS) running on Atari ST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHCRloPpbhs
• Cheap Xilinx ZYNQ Development Board XC7Z7010 for FPGA retro computing stuff https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001502520136.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.78a44c4dyPwRiw

Turbo Rascal SE (TRSE) is an integrated development environment running on Linux, MacOS X or Windows for game and demo development on retro machines, including the Amiga 500 and Atari ST, but also C64, Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS 8086, Gameboy, Atari 800 and many more. The IDE is in active development and free software (GPLv3). The programming languages supported are a Pascal dialect and support for assembler. The IDE includes the compiler, image sprite level resource editor, tutorials and example code.

Screenshot:

Homepage: https://turborascal.com

Sourcecode: https://github.com/leuat/TRSE

The RaSCSI is an open source project that turns a Raspberry Pi into a SCSI target device (or SCSI host) for older machines. It supports "emulating" hard disks, CD-ROM, SCSI-Ethernet networks cards or even SCSI graphics cards. It currently targets m68k Apple Macintosh machines, but also supports other systems (X68000, Apple ][ etc).

The homepage is at https://rascsi.com

Tony Kuker presented the RaSCSI project at FOSDEM 2021 https://fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/retro_rascsi/

March is #MARCHintosh!

With the success of such events as DOScember and SEPTandy, why shouldn't the Macintosh retrocomputing community have their own month to share their passion for classic Macintosh computers?

Information at http://retro.marchintosh.com

Craig Maloney gave an very intersting presentation at Penguincon 2020 about "The History of Atari". Quite comprehensive, with many references to other sources on the topic.

http://decafbad.net/files/penguicon2020/history_of_atari.pdf

In his blog post Martin Döring tells the story how the GEMDOS and GEM GUI sources have been freed back in 2001. His work started the EmuTOS project. The orginal GEM sources came from the Apple Lisa, and now EmuTOS is ported back to that system. Full circle.

http://hubbz.de/en/floss/2021-02-18-the-gemdos-story.html

ChibiAkumas has published a new book about 'Learn Multiplatform Assembly Programming', containing introductions to 68000, 6502, Z80, 8086 and ARM assembly: https://www.assemblytutorial.com/

Ricky Taylor (@rickytaylor26 on Twitter) has managed to create a working ROM for the Sega Megadrive using (mostly) the Rust compiler with the new m68k backend:

• Nitter
• Twitter

This is all about the Sinclair QL world!

Some information mentioned in the presentation.

• First-timers best start with the distribution "QL/E": http://sinclairql.net/repository.html#QLE Have fun with QL/E!
• In case you want everything (GBs of documentation, software and pictures), get "QL IS 30 2014 - THE DISTRIBUTION, RELOADED!" which includes "QL/E": http://sinclairql.net/repository.html#TheDistribution
• The book mentioned at the end of the presentation is called "DELETE." See the pictures of the Sinclair Industrial Design work in this 2013 video "RETURN, DELETE, TODAY…": https://youtu.be/alP8r9dFxZs
• QL web resources mentioned in the presentation:
  • https://www.youtube.com/QLvsJAGUAR
  • https://www.youtube.com/QLvsJAGUAR/community
  • http://sinclairql.net/
  • http://sinclairql.net/about_urs.html
  • http://www.wlenerz.com/smsqe/
  • https://www.kilgus.net/
  • http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/
• And in the chat after the presentation we also talked more deeply about C compilers. Here's a good article on "C-Compilers for the QL" and "Cross Compilation for the Sinclair QL using qdos-gcc": https://github.com/linneman/snake

ImHex is a sophisticated Hex editor that among other things, supports dissassembly of m68k and m680x binary files.

Recording: Vampire 4 "Stand-Alone" - First impression

The Vampire 4 SA is a Amiga compatible computer with an 68080 CPU in an FPGA from Apollo Accelerators running ApolloOS (a distribution of AROS - The AROS Research Operating System). The Vampire 4 SA can also boot into EmuTOS and Atari MiNT (Atari ST compatible).

• Youtube Video
• Slides

In this chat we've discussed the "ClangBuildLinux" (https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io) Project. This project builds the Linux-Kernel with the LLVM compiler infrastructure. Now that Min-Yih Hsu has created the m68k backend for LLVM, it might be possible to compile the Linux-Kernel for m68k targets with the modern LLVM compiler infrastructure.

Nick Desaulniers explains the "ClangBuildLinux" Project, the reasons for building the Linux Kernel with LLVM, issues found in the Linux-Kernel through the LLVM code checker. Min-Yih Hsu joined in the chat to give information on the LLVM m68k backend.

• Youtube Video

• LLVM for m68k repository: https://github.com/M680x0/M680x0-mono-repo
• This Atari TT has 1 GiB of RAM ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwiaoQws8E0
• Parts of the Linux Kernel might be coded in Rust in the future: https://github.com/Rust-for-Linux
• Also: https://github.com/fishinabarrel/linux-kernel-module-rust
• Debian mailing list: Porting the Rust compiler to m68k https://lists.debian.org/debian-68k/2019/02/msg00003.html
• Last month was QLvember: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTvAnU1jefAJpqlW9QDl7Xmc0yhKKD8vR
• Documentation on early Linux Kernel startup: https://people.kernel.org/linusw/how-the-arm32-kernel-starts
• How Linux-Kernel decompression works: https://people.kernel.org/linusw/how-the-arm32-linux-kernel-decompresses
• Fuzix - A Unix-ish operating system for small machines (Z80, 8080/8085, 6809, 6502, m68k …) by former Linux developer Alan Cox: http://fuzix.org/
• Fuzix Source: https://github.com/EtchedPixels/FUZIX
• ELKS (another Unix-ish OS for small i8086 systems) https://github.com/jbruchon/elks
• Vampire 4 SA compatible keyboards and mice: https://wiki.apollo-accelerators.com/doku.php/vampire:compatible_usb_input
• QEmacs - a small Emacs clone: https://bellard.org/qemacs/
• Cross-Compilation Toolchain for the Netsurf browser http://git.netsurf-browser.org/toolchains.git/
• Example how to create a tiny FreePascal 'Hello-World' binary: https://github.com/chainq/amiga-tiny-hello-p
• A replacement for PC Window and some of the PC Tools for Commodore PC Bridgeboards for RTG and CPU expanded Amiga computers (written in FreePascal): http://viaduct.amigaspirit.hu
• Grime 68000 (Game) ported to the Sinclair QL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XukgHKBrPIQ
• The whole DOScember playlist (incl. Jan Beta Amiga Bridgeboard video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkwZR0OKwUw&list=PLh38SbsQfKYflf45ZX7IZ3D3rWT37rSRT
• FreePascal and Lazarus on AmigaOS/Aros/MorphOS: http://blog.alb42.de
• Gemini - a protocol between Gopher and HTTP: https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/specification.html
• Fosdem 2021 Retro Computing room https://penta.fosdem.org/submission/FOSDEM21
• The Fosdem 2021 CfP will be linked from https://fosdem.org/2021/news/2020-12-06-accepted-developer-rooms/
• NetSurf Browser with Gopher support: https://m.g3l.org/@mmu_man/101015531745869267

This video explains and demonstrates the QEMU user mode and how to setup an Linux m68k development environment that can seamlessly be used from an amd64 host.

With this environment, it is possible to write scripts that execute a mix of native (amd64) and emulated (m68k) commands. It is also possible to start the m68k environment inside a Linux container using systemd-nspawn.

QEMU user mode is a great addition to every cross development toolbox.

• HTML Slides
• Youtube Video

Laurent Vivier talks about the existing QEMU Quadra 800 emulation and the linux-user mode. He does explain what are their limitations are, and then what a pure virtual machine can improve. He gives a demo that shows what the machine can do and how to use it. The demo shows live migration between Qemu instances, 9P file sharing between host and Qemu and running Linux m68k in Qemu with a XFCE GUI.

• PDF Slides
• Youtube Video

• George Nakos (http://beyondbrown.d-bug.me) run http://brownbot.mooo.com, which is an independent instance of Matt Godbolt's compiler explorer (https://godbolt.org) that features quite a few 680x0 cross compilers, and a few native ones. It is mostly Atari 16/32 focused. People can also share code snippets using the share button, for example https://tinyurl.com/y55g53qc. So far, it supports:
  • gcc 4.6.4, 4.9.4, 5.4.0, 6.2.0, 7.1.0, 7.2.0, 7.3.0,, 8.1.0, 8.2.0, 8.3.0, 9.1.0, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 10.1.0, 10.2.0, as well as a special version of 4.6.4 that has fastcall support.
  • g++ (same versions as above)
  • Clang 11
  • vbcc 0.9f
  • DICE 3.15
  • cc68 5.1
  • sozobon 2
  • Pure C (Atari 16/32 compiler, provided via an emulation layer which runs the actual 68000 compiler)
  • Turbo C (same as above)
  • GNU Fortran
  • fpc 3.3.1
  • vasm 1.8c
  • rmac 1.13.1

• Joshua Stein started a video series on development on and for MacOS system 6:

  I've been writing an IMAP client for and on my Mac 512Ke over the past many weeks. Taking inspiration from Andreas Kling's excellent YouTube videos documenting his development of the Serenity operating system, I thought I'd start screencasting some of my work.

  This video is the first of hopefully many and presents a quick introduction to System 6, HFS resource forks, THINK C 5.0, and a look at some of the progress of my IMAP client so far.

  • Video: C Programming on System 6 - Intro
  • Series: https://jcs.org/tagged/retrocomputing

• Cameron Kaiser has released a gopher client for AMOS OS on Alpha Micro by hacking its TCP client suite: https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2020/09/hacking-gopher-client-into-alpha-micro.html
• The Alpha Micro machines were based on various 68K CPUs but notable that they were multiuser business "mini minis" and actually run the 68K in little-endian mode for compatibility with their previous architecture's data files. General information: http://ampm.floodgap.com/ (hosted on an Alpha Micro Eagle 300, a 1994 system with a 68EC030)

• DOS GEM Sources (with a horrible git history of piled up zip files with sources inside ) https://github.com/shanecoughlan/OpenGEM
• Atari TOS operating system calls documentation https://freemint.github.io/tos.hyp/
• llvm/m68k backend bounty source (please support this project if possible): https://www.bountysource.com/issues/90829856-llvm-complete-the-m68000-backend-so-it-can-be-merged-upstream
• Charlie wrote: you can link together 68k ELF objects to Atari PRG with vlink . It's the linker that goes with vbcc & vasm (not FLOSS but you get the source). It works in practice too, I use that combination in Free Pascal for TOS support. Using ELF objects have several advantages over a.out objects, like named sections, which allows section garbage collection linking time. http://sun.hasenbraten.de/vlink/
• Firefee uses ColdFire to have fast (partially) Atari compatible computer: http://firebee.org/fb-bin/index
• Coldfire Programmers Reference Manual (CFPRM): https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/reference-manual/CFPRM.pdf
• Sinclair QL Hardware: https://qlwiki.qlforum.co.uk/doku.php?id=qlwiki:hardware
• Sinclair QL discussion forum: https://www.qlforum.co.uk/
• Sinclair QL versus JAGUAR http://www.sinclairql.net/QLvsJAGUAR.html
• QL vs Jaguar Youttube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQDnFVcprb6Ks_BuZWZTVFg
• py68k a M68K emulator based on Musashi, with a Python device model https://github.com/John-Titor/py68k
• Video: Sophie Wilson (ARM CPU Architect) - Future of CPU architectures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHXBUvpc9Zk&t=3s
• Video: Bell Mensch (6502 CPU Architect) - Genesis of 6502 http://vcfed.org/wp/vcf-west-event-schedule/ https://youtu.be/7YoolSAHR5w
• Interview with Gunnar von Boehn of the Apollo Team (Vampire 68080 CPU): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ5XoVmL-d4
• Charlie: How http://m68k.info looks on an actual system (my A2000 + IBrowse):
• MC 68008 Card for the Apple ][
  • Video https://invidious.13ad.de/watch?v=NCH6AcMvkdk&autoplay=0
  • German Article PDF: http://page.mi.fu-berlin.de/rojas/pub/68008_Karte.pdf
  • English translation: https://manualzz.com/doc/6934178/68008-cpu-card-for-the-apple

• PDF Slides
• Support the LLVM/m68k backend through BountySource

• PDF slides of the talk
• EmuTOS Project Website
• EmuTOS Project Facebook page
• EmuTOS Source Code on Github
• Vincent Riviere's m68k-atari-mint cross-tools
• EmuTOS Mailing List

after almost 20 years of development the EmuTOS project reached the version number 1.0. EmuTOS is a Free operating system for computers based on Motorola 680x0 or ColdFire microprocessors. It features functionality similar to TOS, which powered the Atari ST and its successors between 1985 and 1994.

• Major changes:
  • BIOS: Add keyboard mapping for Spanish keyboard
  • BIOS: Change Spanish character set to Atari ASCII, like Atari TOS
  • BIOS: Improve joystick compatibility with Atari TOS
  • EmuDesk: Implement "Search""Cycle windows""Select all items" in File menu
  • EmuDesk: Implement "Size to Fit" in View menu
  • EmuDesk: Implement "Cache" in Options menu
  • EmuDesk: Add user-modifiable shortcuts for desktop menu items
  • VDI: Add support for Atari GDOS
  • VDI: Fix spacing and positioning of outlined text
  • VDI: Improve text output quality for special effects
  • VDI: Underline text within character cell if possible, like Atari TOS
  • General: Add Polish language support
  • General: Generate language-specific ROMs for PAK 68/3 hardware
• Website and Download: https://emutos.sourceforge.io

Recording from the m68k.info chat on 21st August 2020:

neozeed had success in running the C-Compiler of AT&T Unix on the FreeBee Emulator (emulating a AT&T 3B1 machine, patched version of the emulator https://github.com/shadyjesse/freebee). Now it is possible to compile new software for these interesting old Unix systems: https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2020/08/29/thanks-to-shadyjesse-philpems-freebee-can-now-run-the-c-compiler/

The ZZ9000 graphics card from MNT (revision R-1 and R-2) has a design error that shorts the 1V8 and 3V3 supply voltage rails of the ZYNQ module, causing the ZYNQ module to overhead.

In his blog article "The first cut is the deepest!", Stefan Reinauer explains how he found and fixed the issue.

MNT has published a document on about the fix.

In addition, the MNT ZZ9000 Firmware 1.7.0 Beta 2 is now available along with a new version of ZZTop (AmigaOS tool for ZZ9000 diagnostics).

Francois Revol has re-started work on his port of the HaikuOS to the Motorola 68000 architecture. Recent progress https://m.g3l.org/@mmu_man/104558619892698374. Older status reports on https://www.haiku-os.org/tags/m68k/

Not new, but rediscovered in August: Rob Braun has some interesting notes on booting NetBSD/m68k on a Mac Centris 650. His Webpage also has some interesting system tools for classic MacOS.

• NetBSD/mac68k Work Entry #1
• NetBSD/mac68k Work Entry #2

Yoshinori Sato adds support for the Japanese Sharp X68000 console to the Linux kernel: https://osdn.net/projects/uclinux-h8/scm/git/linux/commits?branch=x68k

A demonstration video on Twitter is showing Debian boot on the X68000: https://twitter.com/ysat0/status/1245005871844741127

Lawrence Manning is porting EmuTOS to his FPGA based m68k board. He is documenting the bring-up in his blog at http://www.aslak.net

• qemacs - a lean Emacs flavored editor https://bellard.org/qemacs/
• the Gryphon 68030 1.0 board https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boards:sbc:gryphon_68030:start
• the ECB KISS-68030 board https://www.retrobrewcomputers.org/doku.php?id=boards:ecb:kiss-68030:start
• Linux on the (ARM) Palm Pilot https://palmdb.net/palm-linux/
• Mac PowerBook 550c (68040) https://everymac.com/systems/apple/powerbook/specs/mac_powerbook550c.html
• PAPERCRAFT MODELS http://rockybergen.com/papercraft
• Keyboard Babel, open source keyboard protocol translator project - various keyboard interfaces http://kbdbabel.org/

Vincent Riviere created a video (over 1 hour) showing ARAnyM + EmuTOS + FreeMiNT + fVDI + XaAES + Tera Desktop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOkDuLmgWFo

The video is in french language with english subtitles.

Rob Mitchelmore is trying to get GEM working (again) on the Apple Lisa. He got release GEMDOS 1.1 running, based on the GEMPORT kit's Lisa BIOS and the GEMDOS 1.1 sources, and it is self-hosting: EmuTOS Mailing List Thread

John Paul Adrian Glaubitz reports that the m68k backend for LLVM has been finished. It has not been merged upstream yet (that will take some time), but it should be usable now. Adrian is currently test-building it on Debian/m68k and it is asking for help finding issues: https://lists.debian.org/debian-68k/2020/06/msg00029.html

Stefan Reinauer has created an Xorg driver for Linux m68k: https://source.mntmn.com/stepan/zz9000-linux-m68k

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