The Smaky Computer Home Page
Motorola 680x0, Real-Time OS, Swiss-made !
 

Last updated May 2003.

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Smaky

The Smaky computer is a Swiss machine, originally developed by Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud at former LAMI. The Smaky computers started before 1978. They are based on the 680x0 family and run a real-time OS since 1981 ! They were manufactured and distributed by EPSITEC SA. Look at Bolo's Computer Museum for a short history or click on the Smaky logo on the left.

News

The latest news about the Smaky computer are published here (). Released Smaky 3.2.4 !

Last update : 23 May 2003.

Support

EPSITEC SA is providing the support for the Smaky computer family. Basically, every registered customer who has subscribed to the Smaky Service gets free support, fixes and updates. Please contact Epsitec's service for any question. EPSITEC is no longer manufacturing its own hardware, which has been replaced by a universal Smaky emulator : the Smaky Infini.

If you are looking for recent software updates, please have a look at the download () page.

The hardware list

Several models based on the Motorola 680x0 family have been built up to now. This list shows the different Smaky computers, sorted from the oldest to the newest, including the prototypes which were never commercialised :

 

1981 Smaky 8

The first SMAKY with a 68000 processor and 128 KB of DRAM, manufactured in 1982. It also had a dedicated Z80 to handle the peripherals and another one to handle the networking. This machine is no longer supported.

1984 Smaky 100

This Smaky runs a 68000 at 8 MHz. The 640x400 monochrome display uses the mainboard memory; it has a unified memory architecture and up to 3 MB of DRAM.

1987 Smaky 324

The deluxe version with a 68020 at 16 MHz, an arithmetic coprocessor, a 864x1024 monochrome display and up to 16 MHz of DRAM. The display uses dedicated VRAM. A microcontroller is used to handle mouse and keyboard.

1989

SMAKY 196

This machine has specifically been developed for the LAMI. The 68030, up to 16 MB of DRAM, a network interface and a 640x400 display driver are located directly in the keyboard. These machines are diskless and boot from the network. It is a very early NC (network computer).

1991 Smaky 300

This machine is the first 16-colour model, based on a 25 or 33 MHz 68030. It is even smaller than the 196. It fits into a non-modified Smaky keyboard and includes a SCSI interface.

1992 Smaky 130

This machine was first designed as an upgrade to the Smaky 100. It is based on a 25 MHz 68EC030 and has a unified memory architecture. Several boards have been designed for it : an Ethernet board and 3 different graphic boards. The first is similar to the 324 (864x1024 monochrome), the second is VRAM-based and offers up to 24-bit per pixel or 1600x1200, the third uses a Cirrus Logic 54x6 chip and up to 4 MB DRAM; it can host a FPU, a 10Mb/s Ethernet interface, a video capture module, a UHF TV tuner module and a memory expansion.

1995

SMAKY M4000 proto

This is an ISA, 68040 board, developed by Michel Pahud (1995 diploma work). It has never been finished.

1995

SMAKY P6000 proto

This is a PCI, 68060 and 68360 based system, developed by Pierre Arnaud (1995 diploma work). It has never been commercialised.

1996

SMAKY 360 proto

This is a 68360 board. It has been redesigned by Erik Bruchez in order to provide a reconfigurable network computer, which has nothing to do with the Smaky anymore.

1997 Smaky 400

This is a mixed 68040 and 68360 PCI board, designed to be plugged into a Pentium system running Windows NT. Have a look at the original Smaky 400 page or look for the Smaky 400 at EPSITEC's.

1998 Smaky 400

The Smaky Infini is a 100% software version of the Smaky 400 : all the hardware is emulated by the host computer. Have a look at the original Smaky Infini () page.

2001

SMAKY 336

This is an MC68336-based controller core, used by OPaC bright ideas for its own applications.

 

Have a look at a few slides taken from EPSITEC's advertisements (or click on some of the Smaky logos above).

PSI-OS : The Smaky OS

PSI-OS is a dynamic, small and efficient real-time operating system, originally developed by Beat Brunner and Daniel Roux in the early 1980's. It is currently maintained mainly by Pierre Arnaud. About 95 % of the OS has been written with the CALM assembly language for the 680x0 family, with size and speed a top preoccupation.

There is no monolithic kernel, as known to the UNIX world. PSI-OS is composed by a set of binaries which build up the kernel :

Many libraries extend the system API (dialogue boxes, scroll bars, editor, animation, graphical routines, etc.) using the LINE A emulator.