Freescale ColdFire

The Freescale ColdFire is a microprocessor that derives from the Motorola 68000 family architecture, manufactured for embedded systems development by Freescale Semiconductor (formerly the semiconductor division of Motorola).

Instruction set

The ColdFire instruction set is "assembly source" compatible (by means of translation software available from the vendor) and not entirely object code compatible with the 68000. When compared to classic 68k hardware, the instruction set differs mainly in that it no longer has support for the binary-coded decimal (BCD) packed data format; it removes a number of other, less used instructions; and most instructions that are kept support fewer addressing modes. Also, floating point intermediates are 64 bits and not 80 bits as in the 68881 and 68882 coprocessors. The instructions are only 16, 32, or 48 bits long, a simplification compared to the 68000 series.

Models

In 2006, Debian project was looking into making its m68k port compatible with the ColdFires, as there are ColdFire models that are much faster than the 68060. They can be clocked as high as 300 MHz, compared with (officially) 75 MHz for a 68060 (the fastest "real" m68k processor) without overclocking (with overclocking, it can run on even 110 MHz). Stallion Technologies ePipe and Secure Computing SnapGearsecurity appliances are based on ColdFire processors. There are ColdFire Linux-based SBCs with Ethernet and CompactFlash as small as 23×55  mm or 45×45  mm or based on CompactFlash (37×43 mm) itself.