Planet m68k
News around Motorola 680x0 CPU computer systems

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TeX Live 2023 available for m68k Linux   linux tex mar2023

Nelson H. F. Beebe from the University of Utah writes on the Debian m68k mailing list:

I'm pleased to report that a build of TeX Live 2023 on Debian 12 68K (QEMU 7.0.0 emulation thereof) succeeded here last week, and binaries are available at links from

https://www.math.utah.edu/pub/texlive-utah/

The DVD production for TeX Live 2023 (a distribution of the TeX typesetting system) has been started.

(news reported by Adrian Glaubitz)

Linux Kernel 6.3 supports "seccomp" security feature on m68k   linux security mar2023

The upcoming Linux Kernel 6.3 will support the "seccomp" security feature for the m68k cpu architecture. With "seccomp", a developer or administror can limit the systemcalls a Linux application can use to communicate with the Linux Kernel. This allows for a tighter privilege separation of processes, as processes can be restricted to just a part of the Kernel function (filesystem, process management, network communication etc).

For full "seccomp" support in m68k Linux systems, the libsecomp library needs support for m68k systems as well - a patch has already been submitted by Adrian Glaubitz: https://github.com/seccomp/libseccomp/pull/397

Web-Based m68k Assembler Editor   programming assembly jan2023

At https://asm-editor.specy.app/ you can find an editor, assembler and (simple) m68k emulator that let's you code assembly projects in the browser. Maybe this develops into something like https://8bitworkshop.com is for 8bit machines.

Source: https://github.com/Specy/asm-editor

Free eBooks for GFA-Basic and m68k Assembly programming   programming ebooks jan2023

Thomas Werner has got permission from the original authors of classic Atari-ST/Amiga and MS-DOS books (mostly on GFA-Basic). The books are available as free downloads from

http://ebook.pixas.de/

Crowdfunding for m68k support in the Mold linker   llvm oct2022

Adrian Glaubitz wrote on the Debian m68k Mailing list:

There is a new linker called "Mold" [1] that is being developed by Rui Ueyama, one of the core developers of LLVM [2].

Rui has said in a discussion on Github that he is accepting donations [3] and that he is willing to add m68k support to Mold if we can raise $1000.

I have already started a crowdfunding campaign in the German a1k.org Amiga forum and we have already collected $250 [4]. If we can get another $750, Rui will start working on m68k in Mold.

So, if anyone is willing to support this effort, please go his sponsoring site [5] and make a one-time donation. If you have made a donation, please let me (Adrian) or Rui know so that we can track who has sent money to support the m68k backend.

The maintainer of the M68k backend in LLVM has set up two sponsorship pages   llvm jan2022

You can now use Patreon and OpenCollective to support the development efforts.

Gentoo Linux for m68k machines reborn again   linux sep2021

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 building of binary packages for m68k architectures.

The RUST programming language gets m68k support   rust programming sep2021

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:

Video: Adding HDMI to a stock Macintosh Classic   hardware mac video may2021

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

Video: Apple's UNIX for the Classic Macintosh!   unix mac video may2021

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

Video: Recording from the m68k dev chat session on 28th of May 2021   vbcc c compiler video may2021

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.

Video: Zen and the Art of Learning Assembler in the 21st Century   may2021 video assembly

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/

AT&T m68k Workstation from 1985   may2021 att video

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

Video Recording - SMSQ/E - Operating-System for the Sinclair QL   sinclairql video smsqe mar2021

News aggregator running on an Apple Mac SE/30   mac news

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

Apple Mac SE/30 logic board reborn   mac hardware

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/

The m68k backend for LLVM is now upstream (in the LLVM github repo)   llvm programming linux

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

Chat Log from the February meeting   chat feb2021

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

Turbo Rascal Syntax Error (IDE for game/demo programming)   programming assembler atarist amiga feb2021

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: trse.jpg

Homepage: https://turborascal.com

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

Rascsi - turning an Raspberry Pi into an SCSI device for m68k machines   macos scsi feb2021

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/

Januar 2020 Meeting Chat log   chat jan2021

NetSurf Browser

A browser for resource challanged systems: http://www.netsurf-browser.org/

Quote about Sinclair QL cross-compiling:

cross compiling is also relatively hard, because the QL filesystem has some "metadata", so you can't 1:1 crosscompile things… you need to somehow postprocess executables. or have a special header…

which then emus can load

so it's a similar problem to mac68k resource forks

or something :)

Amiga Books:

Fixing a MacOS LC-III

Amiga Extensions

Atari ST Demo

SSL/TLS with retro computer

Prepare for #MARCHintosh!   macos mar2021

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

the History of Atari   atarist feb2021

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

The GEMDOS Story   emutos lisa feb2021

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

New book about learning m68k assembly programming (also 6502, Z80, 8086 and ARM)   book assembly feb2021

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/

Sega Megadrive ROM written in Rust/m68k   rust megadrive feb2021

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:

RUST-m68k-on-megadrive.png

Video Recording - The Grand Tour of Sinclair QL   sinclairql video jan2021

This is all about the Sinclair QL world!

Some information mentioned in the presentation.

ImHex - A hex editor for reverse engineers   tool jan2021

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

Video   amiga vampire4 video

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).

Video Recording: A chat with Nick Desaulniers on compiling the Linux Kernel for m68k with LLVM   llvm linux video

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.

Links from the December 2020 Chat   chat dec2020

Links from the November 2020 chat   chat nov2020

Multi-Core M68K Machine

QEMU

Alpha Micro

Video Recording: Chroot into m68k - a seamless m68k dev environment on Linux with Qemu   video nov2020 qemu

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.

Video Recording: Qemu M680x0 support - by Laurent Vivier   nov2020 qemu 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.

m68k Compiler explorer   nov2020 compiler

  • 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

Programming on MacOS System 6   video macos cprogramming sep2020

  • 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.

Gopher Client for the AMOS OS running on Alpha Micro machines   alphamicro network sep2020

  • 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)

Links and Notes from the September chat   Chat sep2020

Video Recording: LLVM Backend for m68k - by Min-Yih Hsu   video sep2020 llvm Linux

Video Recording: EmuTOS 1.0 - EmuTOS on Atari 16/32 bit machines - by Christian Zietz   video sep2020 emutos atarist Amiga

EmuTOS Release 1.0   atari amiga emutos sep2020

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

Video Recording: Amitari - Atari Software on Amiga Hardware   atari amiga emutos video aug2020

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

AT&T Unix on m68k Hardware emulator   unix retro emulator aug2020

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/

Hardware fix for the ZZ9000 graphics card and new firmware and tools   amiga aug2020

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).

Haiku on m68k   haiku neXT jul2020

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/

NetBSD on Mac68K   netbsd mac68k jul2020

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.

Debian m68k on Sharp X68000   debian linux x68000 jul2020

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

Porting EmuTOS to an FPGA based m68k board   fpga emutos jul2020

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

Links from the July online chat   chat jul2020

Freemint on ARAnyM   atarist emutos jun2020

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.

Resurrecting GEM for the Apple Lisa   gem emutos applelisa jun2020

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

m68k backend for LLVM has been finished   llvm debian linux  jun2020

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

Linux/m68k driver for MNT ZZ9000   linux amiga jun2020

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

Ideas

  • Gopher Server
  • Gemini Server ✓
  • RSS Feed
  • Filter based on tags
  • Colorful tags
  • Hosting on an m68k machine (Vampire V4 standalone?)
  • m68k Mailing Lists
  • m68k Webpages / Forums

Date: 2023-03-16 Thu 00:00

Author: Planet m68k Team

Created: 2023-03-18 Sat 12:27

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