NetBSD/x68k

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About NetBSD/x68k

NetBSD/x68k is the port of NetBSD for the Japanese personal computer SHARP X68000/X68030 series. It runs on some models of X680x0 with MMU and FPU. When you use NetBSD/x68k, you may have to replace your machine settings (e.g. changing MC68EC30 with MC68030).

The History of NetBSD/x68k

The NetBSD/x68k port was started in 1993 by OKI Masaru. At first, it was ported from NetBSD/amiga, and tracked NetBSD 0.9, NetBSD 1.0, and NetBSD 1.1. NetBSD/x68k has been included in the official release of NetBSD from 1.2 onwards.

Since April 2002, Nishimura Takeshi is maintaining the NetBSD/x68k port.

NetBSD/x68k News

2013-04-25:   XM6i ver 0.41
XM6i version 0.41 has been released. Now XM6i supports MC68881 FPU emulation and the performance of NetBSD/x68k on XM6i is notably improved. XM6i's FPU emulation code was based on NetBSD/m68k FPE sources, and then the XM6i developments also improve NetBSD/m68k FPE implementation.
2012-10-20:   An X680x0 day again
Three X68030s (including 060turbo) and X68000 PRO-II with Xellent30 running NetBSD/x68k were exhibited on NetBSD booth at Open Source Conference 2012 Hiroshima. See pictures on Togetter for details.
2012-10-14:   Support for network boot and formatting floppy
Network bootloader for Neptune-X and Nereid Ethernet is added, and formatting floppy is also added. See announcement on port-x68k list for details.
2012-09-15:   XM6i ver 0.38
XM6i version 0.38 has been released. Added sound emulation, and NetBSD/amd64 6.0 binary.
2012-05-01:   XM6i ver 0.35
XM6i version 0.35 has been released. Added Mac OS X 10.7 support.
2012-04-29:   PSX16550 now uses MI com driver
PSX16550 fast serial board driver has been switched to using MI com(4) driver. See announcement on port-x68k mailing list for details.
2012-04-14:   XM6i ver 0.34
XM6i version 0.34 has been released. NE2000 network emulation using Windows TAP-Win32, MAC address configuration settings, extended memory (up to 1008MB) emulation, and some performance improvememts etc.
2011-12-30:   XM6i ver 0.33
XM6i version 0.33 has been released. Improved scheduler, rendering, and MPU performance.
2011-12-05:   XM6i ver 0.32
XM6i version 0.32, including NetBSD/i386 5.1, Windows, and Mac OS X 10.6 binaries, has been released. NE2000 emulation has been added to NetBSD/i386 binary.
2011-10-01:   An X68030 day
Three X68030s (including one with 060turbo accelerator) running NetBSD/x68k on NetBSD booth at Open Source Conference 2011 Hiroshima. See pictures on Togetter for details.
2011-07-01:   XM6i ver 0.31
XM6i (X68030 emulator which can run NetBSD/x68k) version 0.31 has been released. On this version, x68k's Xserver now works on emulator's screen by newly added “removing FC2 pin modification” option.

Archive of NetBSD/x68k news items

Supported System Models

It is necessary to install Xellent30 or Jupiter-X MPU accelerator for X68000 series.

040turbo and 060turbo are also supported for X68030.

  • X68030/X68030HD
  • X68030compact/X68030compactHD
  • X68000XVI/X68000XVI HD
  • X68000SUPER/X68000SUPER HD
  • X68000EXPERT/X68000EXPERT HD
  • X68000PRO/X68000PRO HD
  • X68000ACE/X68000ACE HD

Supported Peripherals

NetBSD/x68k requires Motorola 680[346]0 processor (with MMU), SCSI board and harddisks, and over 4MByte memory and 100MByte of disk space.

Although the in-kernel FPU emulator can be built into the kernel for 68030-based systems, we recommend to install a FPU.

  • Sharp genuine MB89352 SCSI host adapter and their compatibles
  • Most SCSI devices
  • Built-in floppy drives
  • Built-in frame buffer (both of the text and graphics screen)
  • Built-in Z8530 serial
  • Built-in parallel (Centronics printer interface)
  • The standard keyboard
  • The mouse / trackball
  • PSX16550 TL16C550CN UARTs
  • Neptune-X NE2000 Ethernet
  • Nereid RTL8019AS Ethernet
  • Nereid bank memory
  • Nereid SL811HS USB host controller
  • Mach-2 SCSI host adapters
  • Tsukumo TS-6BE16 extended memory
  • Built-in ADPCM voice synthesizer

Not Yet Supported

Hardware that we do NOT currently support, but get many questions about:

  • Old (SASI compatible) hard disk interface

We are planning future support for many of these devices. Contributions are welcomed!

NetBSD/x68k Information

Mailing Lists

Current Releases

Future Releases

Related Links