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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!agate!eris.berkeley.edu!mwm
From: mwm@eris.berkeley.edu (Mike (I'll think of something yet) Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Need information about 68010.
Keywords: 68010, 68000
Message-ID: <26405@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 18 Jul 89 03:00:25 GMT
References: <1407@rivm05.UUCP> <116164@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mwm@eris.berkeley.edu (Mike (I'll think of something yet) Meyer)
Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica
Lines: 79

In article <116164@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> raz@sun.UUCP (Steve -Raz- Berry) writes:
<In article <1407@rivm05.UUCP> ccemdd@rivm.UUCP (Marco Dedecker) writes:
<>I own an A500, and I would like to know if there is someone that has
<>replaced his 68000 by an 68010.
<
<Way back in the begining I owned an A500. I also upgraded to a 68010
<when I was able to get a engineering sample from a local Moto rep.

Long before there was an A500, I dropped a 68010 into an A1000. Other
than the problems of yanking & replacing the chip, there shouldn't be
much difference.

<>- Does all the software still work with the 68010 ?
<
<NO. Some games won't work. There may be other "productivity" software
<that won't work either. The way I would test any new software that 
<you buy would be to check it out on a A2620 machine at your local
<dealer first. Chances are that if it works on the A2620, it *probably*
<will work on the '010.

Almost everything post 1.1 will work. You can fix most applications by
running decigel (which catches the exception generated by the '010,
does the right thing, and returns), which can be found on Fish Disk 18.

On the other hand, the '010 tends to break copy protection schemes.
Also, badly written (the rule about not using the sr moves is the
_first thing_ in the Amiga (not AW) version of the RKMs) games that
don't let you have a startup-sequence can't be fixed.

<>- What are the advantages of the 68010 ?
<>
<>I remember someone sending a list of advantages of the 68010, but
<>at that time I wasn't interested, so I don't have it anymore.
<>I would appreciate it if someone could send me that list.
<
<I'll give you what I remember.
<
<10% speed improvement. This is due to optimization of the nano-code
<that executes the instructions. 

Motorola claims up to 25%. I measured about 5% when I did the drop-in.
It all depends on your applications.

<3 line instruction cache. This allows very small loops to execute 
<internal to the chip. It's effect however is nearly nil except in 
<very rare cases.

Only if you use the wrong compiler :-). Lattice 5.0 can be told to
generate optimal code for the '0x0, x = 0, 1, 2, 3. Default is to
generate code for "all", whatever that means.

In reality, most any simple operation on a block of memory (like copying it,
or searching for a value) can be written to land in that cache. This
means that those operations don't wait for intermediate instruction
fetches, and get to run at memory speed (much nicer than an unnamed
architechtures "block move instructions"; also more usefull).

<The MOVE <sr>,ea (or are the operands the otherway around?) was moved
<to be a supervisor only instruction. Properly written programs will
<not use this instruction so you should be safe right?? ;-|

This is what breaks programs that decigel fixes.

<>Thanks in advance,
<
<One caveat, I had MASSIVE problems with my system with a '010 and the
<FFS when 1.3 came out. This turned out to be a problem with the '010
<itself and was fixed by replacing the chip with the original 68K.

Note that the tighter specs on the '010 make the converse more likely
to be true. Converting to a ceramic '010 is a recommended step when
dealing with the "double expansion guru blues."

	<mike
--
Come all you rolling minstrels,				Mike Meyer
And together we will try,				mwm@berkeley.edu
To rouse the spirit of the air,				ucbvax!mwm
And move the rolling sky.				mwm@ucbjade.BITNET