No RISC No Fun
OpenPA is an independent technical resource for HP 9000 and PA-RISC computers and operating systems. Online since 1999, OpenPA documents PA-RISC, a technical computer architecture developed by HP in the 1980s and 1990s, with more than 160 articles.
- Hardware: OpenPA covers HP PA-RISC architecture and processors from early RISC experiments in the 1980s to 64-bit multicore CPUs in custom HP RISC designs.
- Computers: HP released a wide array of PA-RISC computers, from servers to 3D workstations in HP 9000, Visualize and Integrity ranges.
- Operating: Unix was the main operating system for PA-RISC, with many versions of HP-UX, Mach, BSD, Linux and R&D projects developed for PA-RISC.
- Software: Many engineering and technical computing solutions were developed for and ported to HP-UX and PA-RISC, including CAD/CAM, DTP, EDA and office.
OpenPA is based on PA-RISC technical documentation, handbooks, journal and architecture documents, correlated with disappearing archives. OpenPA is non-commercial and independent of and does not represent HP. More about us, news, RSS and OpenPA book.
Also on OpenPA: RISC Laptop Archive and VLIW CPUs, computing history of the 1990s.
PA-RISC in the RISC market of the 1990s
The two-decade story of HP 9000 and PA-RISC computers in the RISC era market for technical computing. Originally devised as servers for business and transactions, PA-RISC computers grew into a variety of market roles and niches during the 1990s. Many examples of actual, wide-scale PA-RISC use cases can be gleaned from old HP customer stories.
In its Infancy, HP 9000 and PA-RISC competed with established minicomputer and mainframe vendors, such as IBM, Digital (VAX) and various other household names of the 1970s and 80s.
In its Growth phase, an extended PA-RISC was integrated at more and more engineering companies for MCAD and graphical use cases with the new HP 9000 700 series. HP was an active player in the technical engineering market to replace mainframe host-style computing. After a history of working with the US Navy in the early-1980s, HP again was part of contracts with the US federal government.
For most of its Maturity in the 1990s heydays, PA-RISC was a complete platform offering for client/server in a three-tier setting – powerful computing workstations (HP 9000 and Visualize), now in 64-bit, solid business and enterprise servers for storage and heavier computing plus other HP ecosystem products for the storage and networking tier.
In its later Decline during the 2000s, PA-RISC lost its engineering market share to PCs on Windows, followed by servers on Windows and Linux – and only kept a niche in high-end computing. PA-RISC systems started to tickle down more broadly to open souce developers and hobbyists (and businesses) seeking cheap second-hand Unix computers.
Listed are some great examples of HP 9000 PA-RISC systems used in the Unix technical computing and government market – based on HP and public press releases mostly from the 1990s era of RISC workstations and Unix. An occasional series.
First PA-RISC SMP with HP 9000 870
HP 9000 870 Emerald were the first PA-RISC multiprocessor (SMP) system released by HP, in 1991.
870S were hosted in a large cabinet with up to four 50 MHz PCX for around half a million US dollars, positioned against IBM mainframe transaction computers.
HP claimed four times the performance of the previous high-end HP 9000 model.
HP added SMP support to PA-RISC and HP 9000 since that offer[ed] the most cost-effective means of improving the performance of a given platform.
Adding a processor board to a system is an extremely effective way of adding power.
However, HP was also lacking advanced processor fabrication expertise at the time.
Alongside the 870S, HP released HP-UX 8.06, the first HP Unix version to support multiprocessing on PA-RISC. Support in HP-UX ended for HP 9000 870S servers with HP-UX 10.10 in 1996 – not an overly long support time.
While the processer used was fresh, the chassis was older as HP placed an extremely powerful 1990-vintage processor into a chassis that was designed in 1983.
Press at the time stated HP was unlikely to move beyond four processors as it is expected to move to some form of gallium arsenide-based multi-processing unit around 1993.
HP ultimately stayed with CMOS and added the HP 9000 890 and Nova SMP servers soon.
PA-RISC Fabrication from TTL to CMOS
HP designed all of its PA-RISC processors inhouse for two decades – and fabbed them as well for more than a decade. HP manufactured PA-RISC processors in its own facilities in Colorado, from the 1986 TS-1 in TTL to 64-bit PA-8200 in CMOS, 1997. Close to PA-RISC’s Decline, HP switched to Intel fabs for two years and then to IBM in 2001 for CMOS SoI.
| Fabrication | Year | CPU | Die mm and gates |
FETs | Process | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP TTL HP NMOS |
1986—1988 | TS-1 NS-1 NS-2 |
SRAMs/PALs 8.4×8.4 1.7µ 14.0×14.0 1.5µ |
TTL 115k 183k |
FAST TTL NMOS-III NMOS-III |
First CPU, six boards Eight VLSI support chips Seven support chips |
| HP CMOS | 1990—1997 | PCX PA-7000 PA-7100 PA-7100LC PA-7200 PA-7300LC PA-8000 PA-8200 |
1.0µ 14.2×14.2 1.0µ 14.0×14.0 0.8µ 14.2×14.2 0.75µ 14.0×15.0 0.55µ 15.3×16.9 0.5µ 17.7×19.1 0.5µ 17.7×19.6 0.5µ |
196k 577k 850k 900k 1.3M 9.2M 3.8M 4.5M |
CMOS26B CMOS26B CMOS26B CMOS26B CMOS14A CMOS14C CMOS14C CMOS14C |
PA-RISC 1.0 PA-RISC 1.1, external FPU on-chip FPU on-chip MIOC, multimedia on-chip MIOC/cache, media PA-RISC 2.0 |
| Intel CMOS | 1998—2000 | PA-8500 PA-8600 |
21.3×22.0 0.25µ 21.3×22.0 0.25µ |
140M 140M |
P856 P856 |
Large on-chip cache |
| IBM SoI | 2001—2005 | PA-8700 PA-8800 PA-8900 |
16.0×19.0 0.18µ 23.6×15.5 0.13µ 23.6×15.5 0.13µ |
186M 300M 317M |
8S2SOI CMOS 9S CMOS 9S |
Higher clock Huge CPUs, dual-core Final PA-RISC design |
| Intel CMOS | 2001—2006 | Merced Itanium 2 |
0.18µ 0.18-0.13µ |
325M 221M |
P858 Px60 |
Intel IA64 VLIW, large L3 HP EPIC VLIW |
HP started with TTL boards for the first TS-1 processor in 1986 (even though the earlier HP FOCUS in 1982 already used NMOS) and switched to HP NMOS-III for two NS-1 and NS-2 processors, all done in Loveland, Colorado. With the last PA-RISC 1.0 processor in 1990, HP moved to its own CMOS fabs, first to CMOS26B, used in CPUs and chipsets, then to CMOS14, used in the final PA-RISC 1.1 and first 64-bit PA-RISC 2.0 processors in the 1990s.
QEMU Emulator with more PA-RISC Support
Two new releases of QEMU, the RISC workstation emulator, brought new support for PA-RISC workstation and devices. QEMU 10.2 and 11.0 added support for HP 9000 715 workstations and many PA-RISC devices and 64-bit support.
QEMU on PA-RISC now supports the following HP 9000 and Visualize computers:
- HP 9000 715/64 workstation, 32-bit (I/O not stable)
- HP A400 server, 64-bit (still unstable)
- HP Visualize B160L workstation, 32-bit
- HP Visualize C3700 workstation, 64-bit (still unstable)
HP SRX and VRX Graphics for PA-RISC
In the late-1980s, HP developed graphical accelerators for the fledging 3D design market as an outgrowth of MCAD solutions on Unix. With SRX and VRX graphics systems, external boxes that connected to the main PA-RISC workstation, HP tried to compete with other entrants in the 3D and animation markets such as Silicon Graphics (SGI 4D).
SRX and VRX, and their Turbo versions, were developed in the HP Apollo merger phase for Motorola 68000-based HP 9000 workstations (300 and 400) and HP’s new PA-RISC workstations (800, later 700). They were very expensive, not very successful and were used for 3D design, measurement and the military (weather, satellite data, radar).
SRX and TurboSRX competed in a market with the likes of Apollo DN1000, AT&T Pixel Machine and Alliant Visualization; which all eventually were outperformed by Silicon Graphics IRIS (4D). HP SRX (and VRX) were still often used for finite element analysis (FEA) and 2D and 3D CAD, with animation and 3D modeling being a lesser HP use case.
HP VRX, Virtual Rendering for X
, was a graphics subsystem introduced by HP in the late 1980s for its HP 9000 Apollo
workstations.
There were at least three different versions of VRX – Entry-level VRX, Personal VRX (PVXR) and Turbo VRX (TVRX), with PVXR and TVRX brought over from 400 Series (Motorola) to PA-RISC like the 730 and 750 workstations.
Personal VRX and Turbo VRX were introduced by HP in 1990 for the 400 series and bought to PA-RISC in 1991.
If you’re interested in rendering, realismm or solids modeling, the PersonalVRX or TurboVRX options are designed for you.
Apple PowerBooks 500, Unigraphics and HP 9000
When Apple used HP 9000 735 workstations and Unigraphics on HP-UX to design the PowerBook 500, a 1994 portable computer using Motorola 68040 processors, later labeled as one of the all-time best PowerBook models.
The flagship Blackbird
PowerBook 500 was designed inhouse by Apple’ industrial designers, using a diverse workflow spanning Apple tools and Unix platforms to merge 2D CAD with 3D surface modeling and solid modeling.
The aim for the PowerBook 500 was a sculptural look
with highly curvaceous surfaces
and fewer strictly geometrical shapes, in contrast to its predecessors.
At the start of the design process, Apple’s industrial designers drafted a concept in Ashlar Velum, a 2D software on the Mac platform, which was passed to the CAD sculptor
, who used Unigraphics on HP-UX on a powerful HP 9000 735 workstation to convert the design via IGES into a geometrical 3D model (planes, cylinder, toroid).
After Unigraphics, the next design step used Alias Studio, a 3D modeling software on Silicon Graphics workstations with IRIX, SGI’s Unix.
The geometric 3D design was now modeled (sculpted) in a 3D scuplture.
After the 3D modeling in Alias, the data was transferred back to Unigraphics’ solid models and needed to harmonize very different construction tolerances between the two solutions.
(Computer Graphics World, June 1994.)
The History of PA-RISC Processors
PA-RISC processors were the HP design for the RISC era of business and technical computing between the 1980s and 2000s. PA-RISC was developed in three generations (PA-RISC 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0) in sold in four phases: Infancy, Growth, Maturity and Decline. PA-RISC had strong competition from other RISC and sometimes CISC platforms.
PA-RISC, the Precision Architecture, was an offspring from HP research and development in the 1980s to replace 16-bit stack-based CPUs in HP 3000 servers and Motorola CPUs in Unix systems with a common, new system architecture, based on new RISC philosophies.
The HP PA-RISC platform and ISA were built from the ground up
by HP engineers.
PA-RISC was implemented almost exlusively in HP processors, built in its VLSI Technology Center (VTC) and Systems & VLSI Technology Operation (SVTO) divisions, from early version in TTL and NMOS in the 1980s to integrated 32-bit and 64-bit RISC processors in the early 2000s with modern technologies.
PA-RISC spanned an interesting period of computing – from the ascent of personal computing (PCs) in the 1980s, through the RISC-vs-CISC wars of the 1990s to the ascent of Intel and Windows and the failed transition to VLIW computing with Itanium in the 2000s, accelerated by the dawn of 64-bit x86 (AMD). The monopoly of Intel-compatibles was eventually softened much later again by RISC – through ARM in the 2020s.
PA-RISC Infancy was early PA-RISC 1.0 processors in the 1980s: TS-1, NS-1 and NS-2 and PCX, the first CMOS PA-RISC. This was followed by quick Growth in the early-1990s with 32-bit PA-7000 and PA-7100 processors, HP’s true entry into the RISC era. PA-RISC Maturity through the 1990s saw successful 32-bit PA-7100LC, PA-7200 and PA-7300LC processors with parallel introduction of 64-bit PA-8000, PA-8200 and unorthodox PA-8500 CPUs.
The eventual Decline of PA-RISC started at the turn of the century but was decided much earlier with an anticipated transition of RISC (and CISC) computing to VLIW, a long HP R&D interest. Final PA-RISC processors included PA-8600 and PA-8800 plus the mythical PA-8800 and PA-8900 – all necessary because HP and Intel did not manage to release Itanium on-time and on-performance. Both architecture disappeared until the late-2010s.
XESS Spreadsheet on HP-UX
XESS from Applied Information Systems was a specialized spreadsheet program for Unix and VMS computers, often used in scientific and engineering solutions which needed spreadsheet functionality.
AIS XESS ran on a variety of Unix platforms using the X11 GUI and OSF/Motif and was billed as an alternative to Excel or Lotus 1-2-3
due to its wide platform compatibility.
Unigraphics into HP-UX
As a fully-featured spreadsheet program, XESS was often bundled with other commercial software that wanted to include a spreadsheet functionality cross-platforms, such as Unigraphics CAD software (UG/XESS), that wanted to have feature partity accross its supported systems, XESS is a customizable spreadsheet for X Windows that is easily combined with other applications, the XESS Connections API toolkit supports easy add-ins and integration with other applications.
Unigraphics CAD/CAM integration was sold for a while as UG/XESS, and add-in for Unigraphics, until a complete version of XESS was integrated into Unigraphics 11 in 1996 and shipped with most later versions until well into Unigraphics NX versions in the 2000s. This enabled Unigraphics and NX users on different platforms (Unix and Windows) to make use of an integrated spreadsheet with (almost) the same user interface.
OpenBSD Development on PA-RISC
The OpenBSD operating system was ported to PA-RISC, OpenBSD/hppa, in the late-1990s, developed by a small set of people, including Michael Shalayeff and Miod Vallat. Making use of source code of other operating systems such as MkLinux and Mach on PA-RISC and reluctantly released HP documentation, OpenBSD/hppa progressed during the 2000s.
Some of the stories of OpenBSD development for PA-RISC during that time are now shared in great detail by Miod Vallat, an OpenBSD developer.
- Some Terrific Idea, a long story on the development of STI routines – BIOS-like functions of HP 9000 computers to use framebuffers as text-based console
- The scariest boot loader code, one part history of OpenBSD/hppa, one part story of the PDC boot loader of PA-RISC machines and the OpenBSD interface with it
- Audio on hp300, nominally a story on Motorola-based HP 9000 300 and 400, this touches upon buses and sound chips on PA-RISC
The articles are long-ish and a truly worthwhile read of open source development for arcane computer architectures.
ME10, ME30 and SolidDesigner CAD on HP-UX
HP ME10 and ME30 were a set of CAD applications developed by HP in the 1980s originally for HP 9000 200 computers. HP ME10 was CAD in 2D while ME30 was 3D solid modeling, both were separate programs. They were ported in the 1990s to PA-RISC and became a mainstay for HP’s MCAD offerings – ME10 was used well into the 2000s.
HP ME10 was used for 2D design, drafting and documentation [with] a user guidance system for fast accurate specifications of geometry, the capability to capture inherent geometric relationships, and the ability to ensure automatic and precise updates.
HP ME30 in turn was an integrated modeling, design and drafting system [with] a smooth progression from 2D to 3D modeling.
PE/SolidDesigner was the follow-on HP 3D offering, based on a new 3D kernel, to which HP MDD transitioned ME30 customers until 1994-95.
ME10, ME30 and SolidDesigner were developed by HP MDD in the 1980s and supported HP-UX since then; ports to PA-RISC followed in the early-1990s. There were a few non-HP Unix ports and Windows NT and 2000 support, but HP-UX stayed the main platform until the mid-2000s.
HP’s Mechanical Design Division was spun-off from HP in 1996 as CoCreate, later bought by PTC. ME30 was EOLed in 1999 (not Y2K-compliant), while ME10 was renamed to OneSpace Designer Drafting and SolidDesigner to OneSpace Designer Modelling. MDD products were used internally at HP well into the 2000s to develop and design devices.
PA-RISC Computers and Unix Timeline
The overall timeline of PA-RISC computers and operating systems – in four phases, starting in 1986 with early PA-RISC 1.0 computers through growth and maturity in the RISC era of the 1990s until the decline of PA-RISC and failed transition to Itanium in the 2000s.
PA-RISC Infancy Growth Maturity Decline Year 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 HP 9000 500 ∆ ∆ 600 ∆ ∆ 700 ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ 740 ∏ ∏ ∏ 800 █ █ █ █ █ █ DN ∆ A-Class ∏ ∏ B-Class ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ C-Class ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ D-Class █ █ E-Class █ █ FGHI-Class █ █ █ J-Class ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ K-Class █ █ █ █ L-Class ∏ ∏ N-Class ∏ R-Class ∏ rp ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ rx ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ SuperDome ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ ∏ T-Class ∏ ∏ ∏ V-Class ∏ ∏ ∏ zx ∆ ∆ Year 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Design 32-bit Early ASP LASI U2 64-bit Astro Stretch Cell zx1 CPUs 32-bit TS-1 PCX NS-1 NS-2 PA-7000 PA-7100 PA-7100LC PA-7200 PA-7300LC 64-bit PA-8000 PA-8200 PA-8500 PA-8600 PA-8700 PA-8800 PA-8900 Itanium [PA-WideWord] Itanium 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 OS HP-UX █░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░░░░░░░█░░█░░█░░░░░░░░█░░█░░█░░░░░░░░█░░░░░█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ NeXTSTEP ░░░█░░ SPP-UX █░░░░░░░░░░░█░░░░░░░ VOS,FTX █░░░░░░░░░░░█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ HPBSD █░░█░░░░░░░░█░░ Mach 3 ░░ Mach 4 ░░░░░░█░░ OSF/1 ░░█░░ ░░█░░█░░█░░ MkLinux ░░░░░ Linux ░░░░░░░░░░░░█░░░░░░░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ OpenBSD ░░░░░░░░░░░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░ NetBSD ░░░░░█░░█░░ █░░█░░ █░░█ ░░░░░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░░█░ QEMU ░░█░░░░░░░░░░░█░░█░░█░ HP-RT ░█░░█░░░░░░░░█░░ Windows NT ░░░░░░ NetWare ░░░░░░░░░░░ 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 OpenPA ░█░░█░░░░█░░█░░█░░ █░░ ░░ ░░ ░░ ░░ ░░░░░░█░ OS: █ major release; ░ support and development HP 9000: ∆ workstation; █ server; ∏ rack
The story of HP PA-RISC computers is covered at HP 9000 PA-RISC History, also split into the four PA-RISC phases Infancy, Growth, Maturity and Decline over two decades from 1986 to 2007. PA-RISC processors lineage is covered at PA-RISC Processors History with separate articles on PA-RISC Design and PA-RISC Operating Systems History.
OpenPA itself started at the end of PA-RISC’s Maturity phase, which was also the tail end of the 90s RISC era. Most fundamental HP 9000 PA-RISC information was documented here during the latter’s long Decline during the 2000s, with much more information added and maintained long after PA-RISC was EOL.
AutoCAD on HP-UX
AutoCAD is a 2D and 3D CAD software solution, developed and sold by AutoDesk sind the early 1980s.
AutoCAD was conceived for mechanical design engineers and later extended to architects and other professions that use CAD.
In the 1980s, AutoCAD was the first CAD program in the world to run on a PC.
Originally designed for PCs with MS-DOS and Macintosh – The IBM PC version was what enabled the company to shift into high gear.
– AutoCAD was ported to Unix in the 1990s with limited success and market acceptance (less than 10% of sales
).
First AutoCAD Unix releases were in the late 1980s.
AutoCAD supported HP-UX and PA-RISC possibly in releases AutoCAD 11 (1990), AutoCAD 12 (1992) and AutoCAD 13 (1994), before AutoDesk cancelled Unix releases after 1994. AutoCAD focused on PCs and later Windows and MacOS, with the Windows version often lagging the main release for a bit during the early 1990s.
There were a few oddball ports of AutoCAD during the 80s and 90s – AutoCAD on Digital Ultrix and VMS, on Sun 386i and Apollo AEGIS, which all were not overly successful.
I-DEAS CAD/CAM on HP-UX
I-DEAS was a CAD and mechanical design automation (MDA) software developed in the early 1980s by SDRC, Structural Dynamics Research Corporation. Originally developed as Integrated Design and Engineering Analysis Software, I-DEAS and SDRC were part of several mergers and acquisitions in the 2000s and sold to EDS in 2001, merged into Unigraphics NX, another CAD product, in 2002 and eventually sold to Siemens and renamed Siemens PLM or Siemens Digital Industries Software.
SDRC I-DEAS contained very diverse applications and products, centered around mechanical design and often used in the automotive sector such as Ford Motor in the mid-1990s.
Performance of 3D CAD on early-1990s RISC workstations was still limited though – The 3-D CAD programs are slow. [...] I-deas on IBM RISC System/6000 workstations under AIX are only adequate in terms of speed.
(Byte 1992)
Early releases of I-DEAS ran mostly on DEC VAX and PDP-11 servers with the rest consisting of a few IBM and Apollo installations, with ports to Unix and RISC started in the mid-1980s. I-DEAS on IBM RT-PC (ROMP) was apparently one of the first RISC ports, followed by early HP-UX in the late-1980s and PA-RISC in the early- to mid-1990s. HP-UX on PA-RISC was supported in I-DEAS well until 2001 and the integration with Unigraphics NX.
