X68000 Generic Chips
It also featured a wealth of off-the-shelf chips from a variety of manufacturers. The X68000's Okidata ADPCM sound chip was also used in at least one other game console, and Yamaha was essentially the only soundchip manufacturer of any import back in the day. Chips from Zilog, Motorola, Hitachi and NEC all made their way inside. As was the norm back then every chip that had extra pins was put into service for another device. The printer controller also handled joystick input, the serial controller handled the mouse and the MFP had its fingers in nearly every input or output port available.
Generic Chips | |
Function | Part # | Manufacturer | Notes | Datasheet |
Real Time Clock | RP5C15 | Ricoh | | |
Sound:nFM Synth | YM2151 | Yamaha | Paired with YM3012 DAC. 8 note, 2 channel, noise | |
Sound: ADPCM | MSM6258 | Okidata | Also used in the PCFX | |
FDD Control | 72065 | NEC | | |
HDD Control | MB89352A | Fujitsu | SCSI HDD Controller (Super, XVI + X68030) | |
Peripheral: Serial | z85C30 | Zilog | Dual channel Serial controller. 1 for RS232, 1 for Mouse | |
Peripheral: Printer | 8255 | NEC | Printer port, joystick ports. | |
DMA Control | HD63450 | Hitachi | CRT raster generator (DMA I/O for FDD, HDD, Expansion Slots, ADPCM Audio?) | |
MFP | 68901 | Motorola | Multi Function Peripheral controller. Controls monitor sync, Serial port,
real-time clock, soft-power, FM Synth, IRQ, keyboard | |
Math Co-Pro | MC68881 | Motorola | Optional. XVI has a socket for it, older units require an add-on board
(often combined with RAM expansion) | |
Source: NFG Games + Inside X68000, SoftBank 1993 |