Building a 68000 Single Board Computer - 6809 to 68000 Assembly Language Source Translator

Unlike Intel, which made a decision to keep a high level of compatibility in their x86 processor line, from the 8086 through 286, 386, 486, and Pentium and beyond, Motorola made a clean break when they introduced the 68000. It didn't offer any software compatibility with their earlier processors like the 6800 and 6809.

However, Motorola offered a tool to help programmers port their source code from the 6809 to 68000 microprocessor. The tool, written in Pascal, was intended to do about 90% of the work of translation.

I was able to find a copy of this tool at http://www.retro.co.za/68000/XLATE09/ and try it out. It includes the tool (both executable and source code), documentation, and some sample files.

I was able to run the original trans09.com executable under using the dosbox MS-DOS emulator. I was also able to run it under Windows 10, but I got a number of errors that I had to ignore.

The tool was written in Pascal. It didn't specify which compiler it was targetted at, but it looks like pretty standard Pascal. I was able to compile it using the Free Pascal compiler under Linux with the addition of one line: "Uses Crt;". I made a few other changes to remove warnings about unused variables. The data files used by the program also needed to be renamed to lower case as Linux is case sensitive.

The tool ran quite well, working as described. Much of the translation rules are contained in data files which can be modified. It also uses some small routines which need to be assembled separately.

M6809 to M68000 Source Code Translator     Version 1.2
Systems Engg, E. Kilbride, Scotland
Motorola Inc. Copyright 1986

   Code in       Code out         Errors         Warnings
      17             23              0               4

The basic approach is to map the 6809 registers to corresponding 68000 registers, e.g. A to D0, B to D1, D to D2, X to A0, and Y to A1. It converts 6809 instructions to corresponding 68000 versions, e.g. LDA to MOVE, and points out possible problem areas, like where the behavior of the overflow flag may be different. Some instructions cannot be converted at all. The intention is that this might do about 90% of the conversion and a programmer would need to do the rest.

Here is a sample conversion, first the 6809 code:

* Sample input program
NULL     EQU   0
         CMPA  #9
         BLS   CB1HX1           branch if number is 0-9
         ADDA  #7               number is 10-15 so add 7 to make it A-F

CB1HX1   ADDA  #'0              add the ASCII offset
         RTS

OP1HEX   PSHS   A               save the binary number
         BSR    CB1HEX          convert the number to its ASCII equivalent
         LBSR   OPCHAR          and output it to the system terminal
         PULS   A,PC            restore the binary number and exit
         EXG    A,B             save the l.s. ASCII character in B; original 8-bit number to A
         LSRA                   shift the m.s. half byte into the l.s half byte
         LSRA
         LSRA
         LSRA
         NOP
         RTS                    leave the m.s. ASCII character in A

And now the resulting 68000 version generated by the tool:

*++       ******   STUB EXTERNAL REFERENCES  ******

                  XREF ..DIN,..DOUT,..JSR,..RTS,..CTOX,..CREP
                  XREF ..DPR,..DPW,..CLRAB,..MUL,..INIT,..VREP
          
* Sample input program
NULL      EQU 0                 
          CMP.B #9,D0           
          BLS CB1HX1            branch if number is 0-9
          ADD.B  #7,D0          number is 10-15 so add 7 to make it A-F

CB1HX1    ADD.B  #'0',D0        add the ASCII offset
          BSR ..RTS              

OP1HEX    MOVEM.L D0,-(A6)      save the binary number
          BSR CB1HEX            convert the number to its ASCII equivalent
          BSR OPCHAR            and output it to the system terminal
          MOVEM.L (A6)+,D0      restore the binary number and exit
          MOVE.L (A6)+,A3       
          JMP (A3)              
          EXG.L  D0,D1          save the l.s. ASCII character in B; original 8-
*                               bit number to A
          LSR.B #1,D0           shift the m.s. half byte into the l.s half byte
** WARNING **                      * V-BIT CLEARED *
          LSR.B #1,D0            
** WARNING **                      * V-BIT CLEARED *
          LSR.B #1,D0            
** WARNING **                      * V-BIT CLEARED *
          LSR.B #1,D0            
** WARNING **                      * V-BIT CLEARED *
          NOP                    
          BSR ..RTS             leave the m.s. ASCII character in A

To actually use this tool you may need to modify it and/or the data files to work with your particular 68000 cross-assembler. For example, the VASM assembler I use does not like the stub routine names starting with two dots like "..RTS" but will accept them with only one dot (e.g. ".RTS").

I've put my test files and notes here: https://github.com/jefftranter/68000/tree/master/xlate09

I don't know if anyone used this tool to port any significant programs for the 6809 to 68000, but it is a rather interesting tool and the concept could be applicable to other processors. It is also an alternative approach to emulation, which is often use but has a different set of tradeoffs (like performance).