[Coco] 6309

[Arthur Flexser]

Well, I think the discovery that some illegal opcodes led to a crash with
the 6309 (instead of being ignored as with the 6809), by itself, probably
wouldn't have led to much.  The big breakthrough came with the release, in
a Japanese publication, of a large amount of information about the 6309,
its registers and new opcodes.

I've always suspected that Hitachi leaked all this information as a way of
getting around some licensing agreement they had with Motorola that allowed
them only to release a 6809 clone, not an improved version of the 6809.  If
new features aren't "officially" documented, I guess legally it can be
argued that they don't exist.

Art

On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 12:51 PM, Bill Nobel <b_nobel at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I got my info from Gene Heskett’s 6309 tech ref from back in 1995. He
> mentions this as being how it was discovered.
>
> Bill Nobel
> b_nobel at hotmail.com<mailto:b_nobel at hotmail.com>
>
>
>
> On Mar 27, 2017, at 10:43 AM, Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu<mailto:
> flexser at fiu.edu>> wrote:
>
> Bill, I think the error trapping that you're describing is what happens in
> emulation (or native) mode when an illegal opcode (i.e., illegal even when
> 6309 added opcodes are included) is encountered.  According to others, a
> legal 6309 instruction is executed even in emulation mode.
>
> Art
>
> On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 12:30 PM, Bill Nobel <b_nobel at hotmail.com<mailto:
> b_nobel at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>
> What actually happens, is the 6309 will see that it is emulation mode and
> cause a error trap.  The CPU will grab the address stored @ $FFF0 & $FFF1
> and jump to it.  This was how the new instructions were discovered.  Users
> of the 6309 thought it was a flaky 6809 clone because it would randomly
> crash on a error.
>
> Bill Nobel
> b_nobel at hotmail.com<mailto:b_nobel at hotmail.com><mailto:b_nobel at hotmail.com
> >
>
>
>
> On Mar 27, 2017, at 10:04 AM, Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu<mailto:
> flexser at fiu.edu><mailto:
> flexser at fiu.edu<mailto:flexser at fiu.edu>>> wrote:
>
> BTW, what happens if you're in emulation (non-native) mode and a
> 6309-specific instruction is encountered.  Is it executed, error-trapped,
> or what?
>
> Art
>
> On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:54 AM, L. Curtis Boyle <curtisboyle at sasktel.net
> <mailto:curtisboyle at sasktel.net>
> <mailto:curtisboyle at sasktel.net>>
> wrote:
>
> Just to clarify - you see around a 10% speed increase just by turning
> native mode on. You can see a much bigger increase for code written
> specifically for the new registers, new instructions, block memory moves,
> etc. (like the 6309 version of NitrOS-9).
>
> L. Curtis Boyle
> curtisboyle at sasktel.net<mailto:curtisboyle at sasktel.net><mailto:
> curtisboyle at sasktel.net>
>
>
>
> On Mar 26, 2017, at 11:06 PM, Dave Philipsen <dave at davebiz.com<mailto:
> dave at davebiz.com>> wrote:
>
> The HD63C09E is a microprocessor made by Hitachi that is pin-compatible
> with the MC68B09E from Motorola (which is what your CoCo originally comes
> with).  It is basically 100% compatible (with some pretty unremarkable
> exceptions) with the 6809 but it also has a 'native mode' that can be
> entered where it has improved performance.  The native mode also adds some
> more registers and instructions.  Generally, the 6309 runs somewhere around
> 10% faster than the 6809 and, if you take advantage of some of its
> additional instructions it may even perform better than that.
>
> There is a re-write of the OS9 operating system called NitrOS9 that
> supports the native mode of the 6309 and gives you some performance
> improvement although there is a version of NitrOS9 for the plain vanilla
> 6809 too.  Given the fact that neither the 6809 nor the 6309 are being
> actively produced anymore, a person may want to obtain a few just in case
> he blows one up or something happens.  You should have enough of them to
> last you through the rest of your lifetime or the expectancy that you will
> be involved as a hobbyist with the CoCo or 6809/6309!
>
> Dave
>
>
> On 3/26/2017 11:50 PM, Steve C. wrote:
> For those of us not maintaining the previous emails, what is the 6309,
> why
> do we want one or three of 'em, how much will they be if you reach 100,
> and
> do they come with sockets? Oh, and before I hit send, are they
> compatible
> with everything 6809? Oh, yes, and most importantly... dang I hit send.
>
> On Sun, Mar 26, 2017 at 8:31 PM, camillus gmail <
> camillus.b.58 at gmail.com<mailto:camillus.b.58 at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> As of this moment 3/26/2017 10:30 PM we have 74 count.
> 26 to go and knock off a dollar/piece....LOL
>
>
> cb
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com<mailto:Coco at maltedmedia.com>
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com<mailto:Coco at maltedmedia.com>
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com<mailto:Coco at maltedmedia.com>
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
> --
> Coco mailing list
> Coco at maltedmedia.com
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>