The
Motorola 68000 series (also termed
680x0,
m68000,
m68k, or
68k) is a family of
32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC)
microprocessors. During the 1980s and early 1990s, they were popular in
personal computers and
workstations and were the primary competitors of
Intel's
x86 microprocessors. They were most well known as the processors powering the early Apple
Macintosh, the Commodore
Amiga, the
Sinclair QL, the
Atari ST, the
WeatherStar, the
Sega Genesis (Mega Drive), and several others. Although no modern desktop computers are based on processors in the 68000 series, derivative processors are still widely used in
embedded systems.