68kMLA Classic Interface

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Simple Way To Speed Up A Compact Mac?
Posted by: Paralel on 2016-05-20 13:11:29
I read this and found it quite interesting:

http://www.merlintec.com/lsi/mac512.html

Do you think its true? Just changing memory timing could produce that much of a difference in performance?

Posted by: commodorejohn on 2016-05-20 13:31:25
I don't know about the exact percentages, but yes, memory access time is a major bottleneck on the 68000, particularly as A. it's primarily a 32-bit processor, but only has a 16-bit bus, so all 32-bit memory accesses take two cycles, and B. it has no cache on-chip, so any time it needs to access memory it's stuck waiting for however long it takes on the particular system. There are mitigating factors, but it's definitely a significant factor.

Posted by: bigmessowires on 2016-05-20 15:21:50
Yes. I ran into this same issue when designing the memory interleaving for the Plus Too replica Macintosh. I even emailed that Brazilian Unitron guy about it.

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