PA-RISC Operating Systems

Unix
Special
Open Source
Research
History

Overview

Many operating systems are available for PA-RISC computers. These include commercial Unix derivates, open source and research projects with different designs ported to and developed specifically for PA-RISC over the years.

Unix

The main operating system for PA-RISC is HP-UX, the native Unix for HP 9000 computers sold by HP in parallel to transaction and real-time systems.

HP-UX: HP commercial Unix operating system for HP 9000 PA-RISC computers. Version HP-UX 10.20 has broad support for 700 workstations and 800 servers, HP-UX 11i runs on most HP PA-RISC 1.1, 2.0 and Itanium 2 computers. There are many older HP-UX versions: HP-UX 1.0 to 7.0, HP-UX 8.0 and 9.0.
NeXTSTEP: NeXT commercial operating system for PA-RISC: Mach Microkernel, Unix userland and modern GUI with support for PA-RISC in Version 3.3 in 1994.
Clones and OEMs: PA-RISC OEMs in Asia licensed HP-UX or developed their own, Hitachi with HI-UX/WE2 and HI-UX/MPP and Samsung with SS-UX (?).

Special OS

There were a few specialized operating systems for various PA-RISC computers.

MPE/iX: Business real-time operating system for HP 3000 on PA-RISC. Not covered here – for more information see hpmuseum.net and Bob Green.
HP-RT: Real-time operating system for HP 9000 740 VME instrumentation computers released from 1992 to 1997.
Convex SPP/UX: Heavily modified Mach-based operating system for Convex and HP Exemplar SPP PA-RISC mainframes.
Stratus FTX, a System V Unix, and Stratos VOS, a transaction-processing system, for fault-tolerant Stratus Continuum PA-RISC servers.
Oddball: Attempts like Windows NT and Netware on PA-RISC in the 1990s.

Open Source

Several open source operating systems are available for PA-RISC, having been developed in the early 2000s with stable support since then.

Linux: PA-RISC support was included in mainstream Linux during the 2000s and shipped with Debian and Gentoo, now available as part of Debian-ports.
OpenBSD/hppa: Open source BSD Unix-like operating system ported to HP PA-RISC computers focused on 32-bit workstations and some 64-bit in 32-bit mode.
NetBSD/hppa: Open source Unix-like operating system, supports PA-RISC computers since around 2005, called NetBSD/hp700 earlier and based on OpenBSD.
QEMU: The popular open source machine emulator supports PA-RISC in 7.1.0 emulating a B160L workstation, supports running HP-UX, BSD, NextSTEP and Linux

Research and Development

PA-RISC was used for many research projects in the late-1980s to mid-90s, many based on Mach – developed at HP, Open Group (OSF) and University of Utah:

MkLinux: Research project from the mid-1990s by Open Group/OSF to port a Linux kernel onto a Mach microkernel, based on the MK-PA OSF/1.
HPBSD: Original BSD Unix of the late-1980s, port from the University of Utah of 4.3BSD and later 4.4BSD to early 800s servers and 700s workstations.
Mach: Several research ports of the Mach microkernel in the early 1990s, with HP Tut Mach 2.0 and the University of Utah with both Mach 3 and Mach 4 Lites.
OSF/1: Ports of the third Unix flavor, from the alliance of DEC, IBM, HP to compete with AT&T System V Unix: PA-RISC with HP OSF/1 and MK-PA OSF/1.

MkLinux and Mach 4/Lites were publically available, others required licenses for source code they contained. Linux and BSD ports made heavy use of their codebase.

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Support matrix

PA-RISC OS support, █ - full support, ▒ - partial support
OS	700s	800s	A	B	C	D	E	FGHI	J	K	L	N	R	rp	rx	SD	T	V
HP-UX 1-7		▒
HP-UX 8	▒	▒
HP-UX 9	█	█			▒	▒	█	█	▒	▒							▒
HP-UX 10.20	█	█	▒	▒	█	█	█	█	█	█			█				█
HP-UX 11.00	▒	█	█	█	█	█	█	█	█	█	▒	▒	█				█	█
HP-UX 11i v1	▒	▒	█	█	█	█	█	▒	█	█	█	█	█	█		█	█	█
HP-UX 11i v2			▒								█	█		█	█	█
HP-UX 11i v3												█		█	█	█
Linux	█		█	█	█	█	▒		█	█	█		█	▒	▒	▒
OpenBSD	█		▒	█	▒	▒			▒	▒
NetBSD	█		▒	█	▒	▒	▒		▒	▒
NeXTSTEP	▒
Mach 3		▒
Mach 4	▒
MkLinux	▒				▒
OSF/1	▒
MK-PA	█								▒
HPBSD	█								▒

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