Were there ever any 68060 processor boards for Macintosh?

[kkritsilas]

I know that there are 68030/68040 processor boards for some of the 68K based Macs. I think there were 68060 Accelerator boards for the Amigas. Does anybody know if there were ever any 68060 processor boards for the Macs? I don't think they would be any faster than the PowerPC processor boards, but with the prices of the 40MHz 68040 being the way they are, and the lack of supply, I was wondering if any 68060 processor boardss were ever made?

 

[Johnnya101]

Nope, not that I am aware of. There's some other thread that touched slightly on it, and it's not really possible to get one going without tons of work.

Supposedly that thread OP mentioned some sort of "compatibility" mode built in to the 68060 that made it work with 68040 systems, but I don't remember where that went.

 

[Byrd]

Not when PPC came and trounced 68K in most tests. If only Amiga went the same!

 

[ArmorAlley]

I've neither heard of any commercial boards nor any hobbyist boards, for that matter.

I am open to correction on this, but I seem to remember that the instruction set is different enough that it would involve a substantial rewrite of code, which was being done for PPC as it was.

There are many threads on the 68060 & the mac. Enter it into the search box above and fall down the rabbit hole.
Here are a few I found quickly:
1. https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/68060-in-mac.40545/#post-439044
2. https://mac68k.info/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=299
3. https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/why-did-apple-ditch-68k-for-powerpc.39667/#post-428413
4. https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/fastest-68k-cpu-available.38649/#post-417874
5. https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/new-cpu-accelerator-options-for-68k-macs.37846/
https://mac68k.info/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=299
And this was before going to search engine of choice.

 

[demik]

Nope.

There was a Frankenstein LC 475 with a 68060 around, but since MacOS cannot run on '060s (missing instructions, etc), that LC475 had a custom ROM and was running Linux.

 

[cheesestraws]

Yes: in theory it could have been (and, if someone had a huge amount of time and motivation, could be now) done, but as it turned out, it wasn't done.

Every so often a 68060 truther turns up and claims it was all a big conspiracy and Apple put pressure on people not to, but it seems more likely that once Apple had decided to go with PowerPC instead, there simply wouldn't be any point in putting out an 060 accelerator given the amount of engineering work it would be, because it wouldn't have enabled the running of new software anyway.

 

[beachycove]

I have a vague memory of having read somewhere (here?) that Daystar did some experimentation with the 68060. Or did I just dream that?

Personally, I’m content with the 040.

 

[cheesestraws]

I have a vague memory of having read somewhere (here?) that Daystar did some experimentation with the 68060. Or did I just dream that?

I believe they did experiment with it, but it was never finished and they ended up deciding it wasn't worth it when the way forward was going to be PowerPC anyway. But this is all, of course, just hearsay...

 

[Nathan_A]

Unfortunately, as a motivation for getting around the high price of 040 upgrades these days, I don't think going to an 060 helps with affordability. Prices on 060 CPUs are crazy high.

 

[jessenator]

I have a vague memory of having read somewhere (here?) that Daystar did some experimentation with the 68060. Or did I just dream that?

They definitely had a plan to make one, sort of in parallel with the PowerPC upgrade project. I think in the end it was determined to be not an economically viable endeavor for them. I think they even released some press statement saying they were committed to 68k development. I think they benefitted from a pre-information-age release era


As far as using one... as has been mentioned, it is a faff to get running properly, but not impossible. It requires the missing instruction sets to be inserted (or just written into a custom ROM). User johnklos has written about it (and I believe executed on it).

And Daystar 68060 Accelerators...

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-15070641/daystar-68060-accelerators-near.html Galen Gruman DayStar Digital has announced that it will introduce a series of Macintosh PDS accelerators based on the Motorola 68060 CPU, the successor to the 040 that Apple decided to forgo when it adopted...

68kmla.org

IDR if this is the one (he's mentioned it many times), but also, OP, search is your friend

I agree on the feasibility front: with everything involved, it's up to you to decide if it's worth it. Personally, it's not.