So was 68K a dead end or just not profitable ?

[SamuraiCrow]

Look how far x86 has come. You can extend architectures if you really want to.

See http://www.NatAmi.net for more information about the N68050 being developed as a softcore and the N68070 to follow as a superscalar version of the '050.  They've recently bumped up to the next size higher of FPGA chips allowing higher performance when the NatAmi comes out.  (And to add to the '050 and '070 they're also working on a SuperAGA multimedia chipset as well!)

[SamuraiCrow]

I agree there but without floating point it's pretty much a non-starter for running any up-to-date OpenGL software for the 3D stuff.  They'd like to retool the FPU capabilites of the 68882 to make it either an SIMD unit like whatever version of SSE or to add a separate stream processor like the Cell SPE except multithreaded.

Also, to be a Boxer all over again they'd have to take preorders and never deliver.  The NatAmi team has refused to take preorders of any sort.