The 6800 was overcomplex and over-expensive as a result. The competition ate it in pretty much all markets. The nmos chips were either dramatically cheaper like the 6502, or dramatically more powerful, like the Z80. Some of that was a victim of the design era, right on the cusp of moving to depletion mode, but some of that was design. And other PMOS designs outcompeted it right up, like the Intel and even the F8.
The 6809 was a joke. Sure it was more powerful than the 6800, but it was going up against things like the 8086 and Z8000 which were far more powerful. And the price/performance was absolutely horrible.
The 68000 was a success, but it's difficult to ascribe that to positive aspects of the design. Like the 6800 it was overdesigned, spending a full 3rd of its gate count on microcode. And then there's the separate data and address registers... urg. I think it's safe to say it was a success to no small degree because of NatSemi's failure, everyone that compared the 68k to the 32k preferred the later. And while it certainly held an edge over the 8088/8086, that edge was only significant until the 386, after which it was all downhill.
Which brings us to the 88000. This design was so overdesigned the company seriously considered just dropping it and building someone else's design (can't recall, Alpha/PRISM perhaps?). The only reason they continued was Data General had a freak-out because they based their entire AViiON line on it. And once it became clear they were going nowhere, Motorola dropped it and went to IBM instead, and DG went Intel.
So over a two decade period with four separate designs, they only really had one outright success. This does not say "powerhouse" to me. Yes, I'm aware there are lots of reasons one design is successful and the next isn't, but it's hard to point to any of their designs and see anything particularly impressive in design or price/performance terms. The 68k was in the right place at the right time, and deserved to be picked up for that reason, but that was short lived.
Was it though?
The 6800 was overcomplex and over-expensive as a result. The competition ate it in pretty much all markets. The nmos chips were either dramatically cheaper like the 6502, or dramatically more powerful, like the Z80. Some of that was a victim of the design era, right on the cusp of moving to depletion mode, but some of that was design. And other PMOS designs outcompeted it right up, like the Intel and even the F8.
The 6809 was a joke. Sure it was more powerful than the 6800, but it was going up against things like the 8086 and Z8000 which were far more powerful. And the price/performance was absolutely horrible.
The 68000 was a success, but it's difficult to ascribe that to positive aspects of the design. Like the 6800 it was overdesigned, spending a full 3rd of its gate count on microcode. And then there's the separate data and address registers... urg. I think it's safe to say it was a success to no small degree because of NatSemi's failure, everyone that compared the 68k to the 32k preferred the later. And while it certainly held an edge over the 8088/8086, that edge was only significant until the 386, after which it was all downhill.
Which brings us to the 88000. This design was so overdesigned the company seriously considered just dropping it and building someone else's design (can't recall, Alpha/PRISM perhaps?). The only reason they continued was Data General had a freak-out because they based their entire AViiON line on it. And once it became clear they were going nowhere, Motorola dropped it and went to IBM instead, and DG went Intel.
So over a two decade period with four separate designs, they only really had one outright success. This does not say "powerhouse" to me. Yes, I'm aware there are lots of reasons one design is successful and the next isn't, but it's hard to point to any of their designs and see anything particularly impressive in design or price/performance terms. The 68k was in the right place at the right time, and deserved to be picked up for that reason, but that was short lived.