• Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12179 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > I find it amusing how much speculation Jim and Andreas do on this site.
    > [...] but I don't accept as fact their conclusions, when they do not have
    > concrete proof to back up their speculative guesses.

    It's in the nature of guesses and speculations that they come without concrete proof, else they wouldn't be (educated) guesses or speculations but pure facts, and as long as guesses and speculations are marked as such (which I did) there should be no problem at all.

    > I have sent the following emails to half a dozen MC68060FE133 suppliers,
    > in an attempt to find more information about the origin of these CPU chips.

    Thanks for the effort. However, I doubt very much that they're going to admit these to be rebadged chips or unlicensed clones even if they are. I'm anxious to read their replies though.

    > "[...] My project requirements include the need for both the
    > MMU and FPU being included within this CPU design, so this
    > must be confirmed prior to making a purchase agreement.[...]"

    Just in case you missed it, we already know for fact that those chips lack both MMU and FPU:

    https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=7819&start=2

    > Some suppliers have a few hundred chips in stock and a couple claim to have
    > over 10,000 in stock. If those numbers are true and accurate, what is more
    > likely, that they are rebadged chips, or that they are clones of the 68060 design?

    I'd say it doesn't speak for or against either possibility

    > over 90% of them appear to be Chinese companies, which would support
    > the possibility that these chips might be Chinese manufactured clones, as
    > minator suggested.

    Just to add that it's *unlicensed* clones he suggested. Besides, in my opinion this equally hints at the possibility that these chips are rebadged slower original Motorola/Freescale parts where the rebadging is done by one or more Chinese outfits and distributed through various Chinese suppliers who might or might not be aware of the deception.

    > It would also make sense that when cloning the 68060, it would be easier to
    > create a clone without the MMU and FPU included in the cloned chip, as it
    > would be that much less work to create a quick clone of only the rest of the
    > 68060's design, without the MMU and FPU, than it would be to include them, or
    > perhaps the cloning process was faulty and the MMU and FPU just do not work.

    It would as well make more sense to rebadge a 75 MHz Motorola/Freescale chip (i.e. without MMU/FPU) as being a 133 MHz chip than doing the same with a 50 or 60 MHz Motorola/Freescale chip that has FPU/MMU but can only be overclocked to about 100 MHz at best. I guess the 75 MHz part without MMU/FPU due to the simpler design should be overclockable to at least the same frequency (albeit I still doubt the 133 MHz) but should be way cheaper to source for potential rebadgers.

    > Lots of possibilities

    Three to be precise (in no particular order):

    1. Licensed clone.
    2. Unlicensed clone.
    3. Relabelled slower Motorola/Freescale part.

    Missed any?
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