HP 9000/743i & 744 VME Workstation

Overview
Internals
External connectors
ROM update
References
Operating systems
Benchmarks

Quick Facts
CPU	1 PA-7100LC/ 1 PA-7300LC 64-165 MHz
Caches	128-256 KB L1 0-512 KB L2
RAM	256 MB (743i) 1 GB (744)
Drives	none
Expansion	(2 GSC-M)/ (2 PMC PCI)
Bandwidth	?
I/O	micro 10E SCSI micro serial micro parallel micro VGA 2 PS/2 micro audio

Overview

The Anole 743i and 744 workstations are VME Single Board Computers (SBCs). The whole system processing unit (SPU) together with the memory and several I/O controllers sit on a single-height 2U VME board, which needs to be installed in a fitting VME cage. This cage provides power and an VME bus connection for routing of I/O to either other VME boards (VME devices) or the so-called P2 connector.

The 743i and 744 SBCs feature a small set of expansion cards, which plug into the available expansion slots and include GSC-mezzanine (GSC-M) and PCI-mezzanine (PMC) cards. It is also possible to use an EISA or PCI cage on several of HP’s own systems based on the 743i and 744. Since the board also features an VME controller it can talk to and control other VME cards on the same VME bus/cage. Of note is that some of the pins on the P2-VME connector on the rear are used to route GSC bus traffic to several of the expansion options. VME cages need to be properly jumpered to support this in order to not interfere with these transfers. Also, it is dangerous to use these boards in a VXI cage since some of the VXI pins carry voltage which would result in damaged devices on the GSC bus.

The 743i is technically based on the design of the HP 9000/715 workstations, the 744 partially on the B132L/B160L workstations.

The 743i boards are used in the 748i industrial workstations, the 744 boards in the 745 and 748 industrial workstations.

Internals

CPU

743i/64: PA-7100LC 64 MHz with 1 KB on-chip I L1 and 256 KB off-chip unified I/D L1 cache
743i/100: PA-7100LC 100 MHz with 1 KB on-chip I L1 and 256 KB off-chip unified I/D L1 cache
744/132L: PA-7300LC 132 MHz with 64/64 KB on-chip I/D L1 cache
744/165L: PA-7300LC 165 MHz with 64/64 KB on-chip I/D L1 and 512 KB off-chip unified I/D L2 cache

The 1 KB on-chip L1 cache on systems with a PA-7100LC is not really a true cache.

Chipset

LASI ASIC, which features:
- NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- WD 16C522 compatible parallel
- Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- NS 16550A compatible serial
Wax chip
- EISA bus converter (GSC-to-EISA)
- Second RS232 serial
Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
744: Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
744: Visualize-EG (Graffiti) graphics
Intel 82503 Ethernet transceiver, media auto-selection
CS4215 or AD1849 programmable CODECs
VME controller
PCMCIA controller

Buses

GSC bus
Optional EISA bus
Optional PCI-32/33 bus
VME bus
SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus

Memory

743i and 744 use different cards
743i: 8-64 MB special ECC mezzanine cards
744: 16-256 MB special ECC mezzanine cards
Up to four cards
743i: 8 MB minimum, 256 MB maximum amount of RAM
744: 16 MB minimum, 1 GB maximum amount of RAM

Expansion

Two sites for GSC-mezzanine (GSC-M) cards, requires the A4219A GSC Expansion kit or
Two sites for PCI-mezzanine (PMC) cards, requires the A4504A PMC bridge board
(two additional PMC sites can be obtained through the addition of the A4509A PMC Expander board to the above)