IBM considered the 68000 for the IBM PC but chose the
Intel 8088; however, IBM Instruments briefly sold the 68000-based
IBM System 9000 laboratory computer systems. The 68k instruction set is particularly well suited to implement Unix, and the 68000 and its successors became the dominant CPUs for Unix-based
workstations including
Sun workstations and
Apollo/Domain workstations. In 1981, Motorola introduced the
Motorola 68000 Educational Computer Board, a single-board computer for educational and training purposes which in addition to the 68000 itself contained memory, I/O devices, programmable timer and wire-wrap area for custom circuitry. The board remained in use in US colleges as a tool for learning assembly programming until the early 1990s. At its introduction, the 68000 was first used in high-priced systems, including multiuser
microcomputers like the
WICAT 150, early
Alpha Microsystems computers,
Sage II / IV,
Tandy 6000 /
TRS-80 Model 16, and
Fortune 32:16; single-user
workstations such as
Hewlett-Packard's
HP 9000 Series 200 systems, the first
Apollo/Domain systems,
Sun Microsystems'
Sun-1, and the
Corvus Concept; and graphics
terminals like
Digital Equipment Corporation's
VAXstation 100 and
Silicon Graphics' IRIS 1000 and 1200.
Unix systems rapidly moved to the more capable later generations of the 68k line, which remained popular in that market throughout the 1980s. By the mid-1980s, falling production cost made the 68000 viable for use in
personal computers starting with the
Apple Lisa and
Macintosh, and followed by the
Amiga,
Atari ST, and
X68000. The
Sinclair QL microcomputer, along with its derivatives, such as the ICL
One Per Desk business terminal, was the most commercially important utilisation of the 68008. Helix Systems (in Missouri, United States) designed an extension to the
SWTPC SS-50 bus, the SS-64, and produced systems built around the 68008 processor. 68000 and 68008 second processors were released for the BBC Micro in 1984 and 1985 respectively, and according to Steve Furber contributed to Acorn developing the ARM. While the adoption of
RISC and x86 displaced the 68000 series as desktop/workstation CPU, the processor found substantial use in
embedded applications. By the early 1990s, quantities of 68000 CPUs could be purchased for less than 30
USD per part. The 68000 also saw great success as an embedded controller. As early as 1981,
laser printers such as the Imagen Imprint-10 were controlled by external boards equipped with the 68000. The first
HP LaserJet, introduced in 1984, came with a built-in 8 MHz 68000. Other printer manufacturers adopted the 68000, including Apple with its introduction of the
LaserWriter in 1985, the first
PostScript laser printer. The 68000 continued to be widely used in printers throughout the rest of the 1980s, persisting well into the 1990s in low-end printers. The 68000 was successful in the field of industrial control systems. Among the systems benefited from having a 68000 or derivative as their microprocessor were families of
programmable logic controllers (PLCs) manufactured by
Allen-Bradley,
Texas Instruments and subsequently, following the acquisition of that division of TI, by
Siemens. Users of such systems do not accept product obsolescence at the same rate as domestic users, and it is entirely likely that despite having been installed over 20 years ago, many 68000-based controllers will continue in reliable service well into the 21st century. In a number of
digital oscilloscopes from the 80s, the 68000 has been used as a waveform display processor; some models including the
LeCroy 9400/9400A also use the 68000 as a waveform math processor (including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of two waveforms/references/waveform memories), and some digital oscilloscopes using the 68000 (including the 9400/9400A) can also perform
fast Fourier transform functions on a waveform. The
683XX microcontrollers, based on the 68000 architecture, are used in networking and telecom equipment, television set-top boxes, laboratory and medical instruments, and even handheld calculators. The MC68302 and its derivatives have been used in many telecom products from Cisco, 3com, Ascend, Marconi, Cyclades and others. Past models of the
Palm PDAs and the
Handspring Visor used the
DragonBall, a derivative of the 68000.
AlphaSmart used the DragonBall family in later versions of its portable word processors.
Texas Instruments used the 68000 in its high-end graphing calculators, the
TI-89 and
TI-92 series and
Voyage 200. A modified version of the 68000 formed the basis of the
IBM XT/370 hardware emulator of the System 370 processor.
Video games Video game manufacturers used the 68000 as the backbone of many
arcade games and home
game consoles, and even a
handheld.
Arcade Atari's
Food Fight, from 1983, was one of the first 68000-based arcade games. Others included arcade game
platforms such as
Sega's
System 16,
Capcom's
CP System and
CP System II, as well as
SNK's
Neo Geo of the early 1990s, which also had a home console version. Certain arcade games (such as
Steel Gunner and others based on
Namco System 2) use a dual 68000 CPU configuration, and systems with a triple 68000 CPU configuration also exist (such as
Galaxy Force and others based on the Sega Y Board), along with a quad 68000 CPU configuration, which has been used by
Jaleco (one 68000 for sound has a lower clock rate compared to the other 68000 CPUs) for games such as
Big Run and
Cisco Heat; another, fifth 68000 (at a different clock rate than the other 68000 CPUs) was used in the Jaleco arcade game
Wild Pilot for
input/output (I/O) processing.
Home By the late 1980s, the 68000 was inexpensive enough to power home game consoles, such as Sega's
Genesis console, and also the
Sega CD attachment for it (a Sega CD system has three CPUs, two of them 68000s). The 68000 is also used as the main CPU of Sega's
Pico, a young children's educational game console. The multi-processor
Atari Jaguar console from 1993 used the 68000 as a support chip, however, due to familiarity, some developers used it as the primary processor. Sega's
Saturn console from 1994 used the 68000 as a sound co-processor.
Handheld In October 1995, the 68000 made it into Sega's
Genesis Nomad, a
handheld game console, as its CPU. ==Architecture==