On September 25, 1928, Motorola was founded. Retro computer enthusiasts think of Motorola as a CPU manufacturer, and to a lesser degree, perhaps as a computer manufacturer. But its primary line of business for the majority of its existence was another electronic device: radio.
Meaning of the name Motorola
The name Motorola comes from two words: motor and Victrola, a brand of record player. Motorola’s primary product was car radios, so that’s why they chose those two words to make their brand name.
In 1974, Motorola entered the CPU business, releasing its 6800 CPU. The 6800 never became as famous as the Intel 8080 or Zilog Z80, but it did see use in the same types of 1970s kit computers. The 8080 and Z-80 running CP/M get more attention today, but a disk operating system called FLEX with similar capability existed for the 6800.
Motorola implemented a few single-chip computers based on the 6800, used mostly in automotive applications. But one of those chips, the MC6803, ended up powering the low-cost TRS-80 MC-10 computer.
In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Motorola saw some success with its follow-on 6809 CPU. It wasn’t as widely used as the MOS 6502 or Zilog Z80, but it did power the TRS-80 Color Computer and Dragon home computers. Commodore also used the 6809 as a secondary CPU on its Super PET computer.
The irony of this arrangement was that the 6502 processor in the PET was the result of people saying the 6800 was too fancy and too complicated. And the 6809 was the result of people saying it wasn’t powerful enough. So then both CPUs ended up sharing CPU duty in the same computer.
The 68000
Arguably, Motorola’s most famous CPU was the 68000, the first commercially successful 32-bit CPU. Externally, it had a 16-bit data bus, but internally it was a 32-bit processor. The 68000 was the processor in the first Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga. It also saw widespread use in computers running Unix, including Sun, HP, and countless now-forgotten Unix vendors. Closer to the end of the decade, Sega used it in its Genesis (or Megadrive) game console. The 68000-derived Dragonball CPU also powered many early Palm Pilots.
Motorola followed up the 68000 with five additional CPUs, which were backward compatible and all of which featured improved performance: the 68010, 68020, 68030, 68040, and 68060.
Motorola 68010
The 68010 was pin compatible with the 68000, so it was a drop-in replacement. It wasn’t as popular as most of the others, and Apple never used it. But I have heard of some Amiga and Atari ST users using a 68010 to give early Amigas a slight speed boost, similar to how XT owners would give their systems a bit of a boost with an NEC V20 CPU.
It was used in arcade machines, notably Marble Madness, and some Unix workstations used it, such as the Sun-2.
68020
The 68020 was a full 32-bit CPU, both internally and externally. Apple used it in the Macintosh II, and Commodore and Apple both used this CPU when they wanted to build something faster than a 68000 based machine but wanted to reach a lower price point than the 68030 could reach.
68030
The 68030 was one of the more successful CPUs in the line, reaching clock speeds of 25, 33, and 50 MHz and seeing use in the Macintosh IIx and the SE/30. Commodore used it in its Amiga 3000, and Atari used it in its Falcon computer.
68040
The 68040 was nearing the end of the line for the CPU family, as far as most people were concerned. Clock for clock, it was faster than a 486, but it had trouble reaching the kind of clock speeds the 486 eventually reached. Apple used it extensively, and the Quadra name was a reference to the 040 processor. Commodore also used this CPU in the Amiga 4000 computer.
Don’t be like Apple and forget the 68060
Motorola skipped the 68050, as it was only a minor upgrade on the 68040. Instead, they went directly to the 68060, although the 68060 is much less well known than the other CPUs in the family. Apple didn’t use the 68060, choosing to switch to the PowerPC CPUs for its next generation. Commodore went out of business before it could use the 68060 in anything, but a number of third party accelerator cards for existing Amigas used the 68060. Although it didn’t see widespread use in computers, the 68060 did see use in telecommunications equipment. Decommissioned telephone equipment became a bonanza for salvagers who found 68060 CPUs lurking inside that they could pry out and sell eager Amiga owners.
PowerPC
Motorola tried to go it alone with its own RISC architecture called the 88000, but its design was not commercially successful. Once that ran its course, Motorola ended up teaming up with IBM produce the PowerPC line of CPUs. Apple had concerns about chip yields early on, but with both IBM and Motorola producing them, Apple was confident they would have enough CPUs to meet its supply chain needs.
IBM used the PowerPC in its RS/6000 workstations as well as its servers running AIX. A handful of other companies also produced PC-like workstations with PowerPC CPUs inside, designed to run Windows NT. With very little native software compiled for the PowerPC, these systems had to rely on emulation to run x86 software, and the PowerPC was doing well to run that software at 486-like speeds. As a result, these systems didn’t catch on.
Both Motorola and IBM struggled to keep up with Intel. Running at the same clock speed, the PowerPC was faster. But Intel was able to ramp its clock speed up faster. While the first Pentiums and PowerPCs ran at similar clock speeds in 1995, by 2002, Intel was reaching 3 GHz speeds while Motorola and IBM were struggling to get beyond 2 GHz. For a while, Apple tried to compensate by using dual CPUs, but PC manufacturers could just as easily double up on the CPUs as well.
After years of rumors, Apple switched to Intel CPUs in 2005. By then, Motorola had been out of the picture for a few years anyway, due to a disagreement that dated back to 1997.
PowerPC in game consoles
The PowerPC also saw use in game consoles, even as it was falling out of favor as a computer CPU. Apple used it in its ill-fated Pippin game console in 1995-97. It also powered the Nintendo Game Cube, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii U. By this time, Motorola was out of the picture and IBM did the manufacturing.
Motorola Mac clones
From about August 1996 to September 1997, Motorola produced a line of Macintosh compatible computers with Apple’s blessing. Apple decided in 1996 to try opening its market to clones in hope of increasing its market share. Several companies participated, including UMAX, a maker of scanners, and Power Computing, an upstart founded by the designer of the Leading Edge Model D PC from about a decade before.
Motorola participated after Apple specifically asked them to in February 1996, releasing its line of computers it called StarMax. Arguably a Starmax looked like a PC as much as a Mac, and it used PC-style VGA and PS/2 connectors. But it ran Mac OS and Mac applications.
After Steve Jobs returned to Apple, one of the first things he did was cancel the Mac clones, a move that displeased Motorola. After being invited to participate, Motorola made the investment to bring the product to market, only to have Apple’s new CEO cancel the whole thing after 13 months. It is entirely possible Motorola never recouped that investment.
As a result, Motorola stopped giving Apple preferential treatment. Steve Jobs swore at Motorola’s CEO, told him he didn’t like their CPUs in a crude manner, and stopped buying CPUs from Motorola at all, relying only on IBM. Apple kicked Motorola out of the alliance. When IBM struggled to keep up with Intel’s clock speeds, Apple had to come back to Motorola. Motorola, not IBM, was the first to produce a PowerPC chip that could reach 1 GHz.
Motorola after CPUs
Motorola spun off its CPU operations into a separate company called Freescale in 2004, who merged into NXP Semiconductors in 2015. NXP continues producing Dragonball CPUs based on the older Motorola 68000 technology. These CPUs are still useful in embedded applications.
Motorola had a very successful run as a cellular phone manufacturer, which isn’t really surprising given its roots in radio. Mobile phones were the next big step after radio, and it was Motorola who developed the first successful prototype cellular phone.
Motorola also produced communications equipment, including equipment used by Cable and telephone companies.
In 2011, Motorola split into two companies, one company focusing on cellular, and the other focusing on communications equipment. The cellular operations were bought by Google and later sold to Lenovo. The communications company still exists as an independent company today, still using the old Motorola logo.
Motorola may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of retro computers, but for a time in the 1980s, it looked like Motorola’s 68000 was going to power the computers of the future.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.