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Freescale ColdFire


The NXP ColdFire is a microprocessor that derives from the Motorola 68000 family architecture, manufactured for embedded systems development by NXP Semiconductors. It was formerly manufactured by Freescale Semiconductor (formerly the semiconductor division of Motorola) which was bought by NXP in 2015.

The ColdFire instruction set is "assembly source" compatible (by means of translation software available from the vendor) and not entirely object code compatible with the 68000. When compared to classic 68k hardware, the instruction set differs mainly in that it no longer has support for the binary-coded decimal (BCD) packed data format; it removes a number of other, less used instructions; and most instructions that are kept support fewer addressing modes. Also, floating point intermediates are 64 bits and not 80 bits as in the 68881 and 68882 coprocessors. The instructions are only 16, 32, or 48 bits long, a simplification compared to the 68000 series.

In February 1999, the μClinux project's Linux kernel was ported to two ColdFire processors (MCF5206 & MCF5307). In 2006, the Debian project was looking into making its m68k port compatible with the ColdFires, as there are ColdFire models that are much faster than the 68060. They can be clocked as high as 300 MHz, compared with (officially) 75 MHz for a 68060 (the fastest "real" m68k processor) without overclocking (with overclocking, it can run on even 110 MHz). Stallion Technologies ePipe,Secure Computing SnapGearsecurity appliances and Arcturus Networks System on Module produces are based on ColdFire processors. There are ColdFire Linux-based SBCs with Ethernet and CompactFlash as small as 23×55  mm or 45×45  mm or based on CompactFlash (37×43 mm) itself. ColdFire based products have even been deployed to the International Space Station as an electronic nose project.


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