Hi everybody,

I've got this

"handheld" several years back, and after I bricked it (it seems it didn't like to run pascal program piped in over serial port 😁) I've put it aside until now, when I was able to desolder flash chips from it.

The chipset is 186 ISA with vendor specific upgrades (for example it has presumably 24-bit segment registers with which it should be possible to directly address well over 1 MiB, it also has improved virtualisation with which it probably can emulate devices and newer opcodes).

There are already 3 official documents:

• F8680 System Design Guide
• F8680 Datasheet rev 1.1
• F8680 Datasheet rev 2.0

and a few unofficial (a magazine from 90., board manuals even some sonic buoy handbook 😁 ), but these are not enough to fully understand the architecture. The upgraded ISA (called superstate R) and the SoC config registers are not described there. However it is referenced to be in documents called (maybe one with the different names):

• F8680 PC/CHIP Programmer's Reference Manual, UG75
• CHIPS Superstate R Interface Guide
• F8680 PC/Chip Programmers Data Pack

I was able to deduce a few possible instructions from the firmware images, but not all of them (especially the important ones). IMO there isn't any chance to reverse engineer the config registers fully.

Does anybody have more info about this interesting SoC or even these missing datasheets? It seems even dosbox-x is interested in those.

The C&T was later sold to the Intel (mostly GPU division) and later sold to somebody else (maybe Asiliant Technologies?). I don't suppose contacting Intel would help (I would be happy to be proven wrong 😁)

Also any firmware dump would be appreciated if anybody still has a surviving device. The vintage devices, where this SoC was used seems to be (often industrial computers):

• Gateway HandBook 286 wiki, webpage
• ACS/Touchstar TouchPC (sold by Loster GmbH?)
• IPC MagicWriter
• Lexicomp Gradebook 2000 (EGS), Lexicomp LC-8620
• Diagnostic Instruments DI-550 Data Collectors
• Digital-Logic Microspace Msm286
• RTD Embedded Technologies CM102HR PC/104 System Peripheral Module
• BECK PS1 Computer
• Dover Electronics ESP 8680 module

Any help would be appreciated.