Motorola 68000 series

The Motorola 68000 series (also termed 680x0, m68000, m68k, or 68k) is a family of 32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in personal computers and workstations and were the primary competitors of Intel's x86 microprocessors. They were most well known as the processors powering the early Apple Macintosh, the Commodore Amiga, the Sinclair QL, the Atari ST, the WeatherStar, the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), and several others. Although no modern desktop computers are based on processors in the 68000 series, derivative processors are still widely used in embedded systems.

Motorola ceased development of the 68000 series architecture in 1994, replacing it with the development of the PowerPC architecture, which they developed in conjunction with IBM and Apple Computer as part of the AIM alliance.

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