Motorola Shows Off DragonBall Synergy

There’s synergy, and then there’s synergy. We saw what happened when AT&T teamed with EO and GO and that’s enough to give synergy a bad name. Then along comes Motorola—a big company—and a leader in wireless communication, but still hungry. This type of synergy may just work.

Motorola has been a key player in the microprocessor arena for a long time. In fact, the company started selling quasi 32-bit processors at a time when 16-bit was the norm and 32-bit was just a glimmer in the eye of Intel. In recent years, Motorola has sought to regain its lost advantage by teaming with Apple and IBM to create the advanced PowerPC processors based on RISC architecture.

However, Motorola has also recently made progress along a more familiar front, the venerable 68K family of processors. This time the company is working to optimize the platform for a new range of electronic organizers, mobile navigation systems, and personal data communicators.

The new chip, dubbed the M68328 and nicknamed “DragonBall,” features a low-power and low-cost design while providing full compatibility with other members of the 68K family of processors. This enables developers to leverage a large body of development tools including compilers, debuggers, emulators, and other tools.

The chip was developed by the Portable System Operation, part of the Motorola High Performance Embedded Systems Division, which is developing an entire line of integrated microprocessors and software specifically for the PDA market. Recently, Samsung Electronics committed to using the DragonBall and has been working with Motorola in developing a new handheld communication device.

This pen-based Samsung device is likely to feature a built-in pager, fax and data modem, together with handwriting recognition and information management software. Samsung plans to supply the LCD and touch-sensitive panel, along with the RF technologies within the device.

The DragonBall processor features an LCD controller, along with three power saving modes suitable for battery-powered consumer electronic devices. The chip incorporates a fully static design enabling individual peripherals to be shut off when idle. The LCD controller relies on system memory, eliminating the requirement for dedicated video memory, thereby reducing size and cost.

Motorola Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group
6501 William Cannon Drive West
Austin, TX 78735-8598
Ken Edwards
(512) 891-2142