Hay, Arnold,

MC 68K was created in 1980 or thereabouts. We talked about 10's
of Megahertz, I think, in those times. I was involved (slightly) with the Zilog Z80,000 which would have competed with the 68K, NS32K and the Intel 80386. Of the instruction sets (architectures) I was most happy with, the Zilog 32-bit processor architecture was to me, the most minimalist and thorough. At the time, I managed software development for the Zilog company's Z8000 computers. It was a fun era. I bought a z8000 system and developed a CRAY simulator on it when I left Zilog and went to work for American Supercomputer Company (another interesting Silicon Valley story).

The 1980's were a very interesting time in Silicon Valley.

One of the saddest stories I recall is when "Eagle Computer" went public. The CEO died on the IPO day after he had become a very rich person when he crashed a Ferrari during a test drive. Eagle Computer died with the CEO.

Ed



On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 2:59 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
The 3B1 had an MC 68010.  I don't truly remember how fast the real
system ran.  The emulated system seems to run more or less the same as
the hardware did, taking my poor memory into account.

The 5620 used the same processor as the 3B2, IIRC. There are emulators
for both (maybe done by the same guy, I don't remember). I don't know
of emulators for the 3B5 or 3B20.

Arnold

Ed Bradford <egbegb2@gmail.com> wrote:

> It seems to me today's 2GHz processors should be able to emulate a 3B (*3B
> or not 3B, that is the question*) at a performance that far exceeds an
> actual 3B. Is the instruction set definition and architecture of a 3B
> available anywhere?
>
> Just wondering. I did such emulations for 68K machines and Cray machines.
>
> Ed Bradford ex-BTL, ex Silcon Valley, and ex IBM retiree.
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 2:00 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:
>
> > emanuel stiebler <emu@e-bbes.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On 2021-01-29 05:49, Arnold Robbins wrote:
> > > > Hello All.
> > > >
> > > > I have made a pre-installed disk image available with a fair amount
> > > > of software, see https://www.skeeve.com/3b1/.
> > >
> > > Thanks for doing & making the disk images, was an easy start!
> >
> > You're welcome. It's a fun side project. I think I finally get the
> > enjoyment of retrocomputing with emulated versions of systems one
> > used in one's youth. :-)
> >
> > > Do you remember, ho to set up the system to have four disk drives?
> > >
> > > Cheers & thanks again!
> >
> > I don't think it can support more than 2 drives. Certainly the emulator
> > cannot. I don't know about real hardware.
> >
> > You can split a big drive into partitions when formatting with the
> > diagnostics disk, but I don't think that's what you're asking.
> >
> > Sorry,
> >
> > Arnold
> >
>
>
> --
> Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.
>   Cicero


--
Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.
  Cicero