HP 9000 712
Quick Facts | |
---|---|
Introduced | 1994-1995 |
Period | Maturity (III) |
Series | 700 Series |
CPU | PA-7100LC 32-bit 60-100 MHz |
Caches | 64-256 KB L1 |
RAM | 128 MB(60, 80) 192 MB (100) |
Design | LASI |
Drives | 1 SCSI 1 FD |
Expansion | 1 GIO 1 TSIO |
I/O | Ethernet SCSI serial parallel VGA 2 PS/2 audio |
HP 9000 712 were a low-cost
Unix and PA-RISC workstation design from HP in 1994 and the second PA-RISC pizza-box
system after the 705 and 710 workstations for HP-UX.

The design goal from HP for the 32-bit 712 workstation was to reach the performance of 1992-era workstations such as the HP 9000 735 at a fraction of their fabrication costs.
For this, 712 workstations used a highly simplified and integrated VLSI design from HP with many integrated components.
Its pizza-box
was one of the smallest Unix workstations of the 90s, similar to Sun SPARCstations.
Geared towards graphical user interfaces and X11, 712 had hardware accelerators for 2D graphics. The beautiful NeXTSTEP PA-RISC operating system, based on Mach and Unix, was designed for and on HP 9000 712.

712 were very popular in the 1990s in technical disciplines and graphics, software and early (90s!) multi-media development.
Especially the 712/60 was competitively priced at the time as an entry-level RISC Unix system, compared to HP and competing Unix RISC products.
HP 712 offered outstanding performance at new low prices
with integrated graphics, standard I/O, stereo audio, solid integer performance for Unix applications.
Together with other HP 9000 computers, 712 workstations were part of the mid-1990s US Navy TAC-4 program for tactical computers. This led to HP 9000 712s being used widely as TAC-4 Desktop Computer throughout US Navy and military vessels. HP 9000 712 and its architecture was the basis for other systems like the newer, LASI-based 715 workstations and the SAIC Galaxy 1100, the first PA-RISC portable.
- HP 9000 712/60 were introduced in 1994 for $4,400
- HP 9000 712/80 were introduced in 1994 for $8,820
- HP 9000 712/100 were introduced in 1995 for $15,100
HP reduced pricing of 712 and 715 workstations quite aggressively in 1997, by up to 50 percent (to $7,060 for 712/100) when newer HP B-Class became available.
Architecture
Processors
System | CPU | Speed | L1 cache |
---|---|---|---|
HP 9000 712/60 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 60 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 64 KB off-chip |
HP 9000 712/80 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 80 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
HP 9000 712/100 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
Chipset
HP 9000 712 workstations with PA-7100LC 32-bit processors use HP LASI, a custom and highly integrated HP chipset, which combines many functions and I/O on a single chip. Together with the on-CPU memory controller (MIOC), this resulted in a very integrated system design.
- HP LASI integrated chipset
- Integrated NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Integrated HP Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- HP Artist graphics, 8-bit, 1 MB VRAM, 1024×768 or 1280×1024 with 2 MB VRAM
- Integrated Other I/O (serial, parallel, Floppy)
HP LASI was primarily designed for cost-reduction while still providing all required I/O functions in a single chip. It was used as the main system controller in most PA-7100LC and PA-7300LC systems.
HP 9000 712 and LASI System Architecture:
_________ ______ |PA-7100LC|_____|Artist|______________[VGA] |_________| || |______| __|__ | || |Cache| | || _ _ LASI ASIC _ _ |_____| | || ______ ______ | || | ____|i82596|___|_[10Mb Ethernet] |Memory|_| || || |______| |______| || | || ______ | ___ || ||__|53C710|_____[8-bit SCSI-2] |ROM|_______|| | || |______| | |___| ||_______|| ____ ________ || | ||__|PS/2|_____|_[Keyboard/Mouse] |GIO-slot|__|| || |____| |________| GSC | || ______ | _________ ||__|16550A|_____[Serial] |TSIO-slot|__ | || |______| | |_________| | || ______ | | ||__|37C65C|___|_[Floppy] | || |______| | | || ______ | | ||__|16C522|_____[Parallel] | | || |______| | | || _______ |_____|__||__|Harmony|__|_[Audio] || |_______| | || ___ | ||__|RTC| | GSC |___| | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
System buses
- GSC system level I/O bus (128 MB/s)
- SCSI-2 single-ended bus
Expansion
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs
- Takes 8-32 MB modules
- Either 4 memory sockets, on 712/60 and /80 models, or 6, on 712/100
- 16 MB minimum, 128 MB/192 MB maximum
- Memory has to be installed in pairs, starting from slot 0, the closest slot to the drives.
I/O slots
- VRAM Expansion: One slot for A2263-66520 expansion for higher resolutions/more colors, see a picture of the VRAM at hpmuseum
- GIO: One slot for GIO cards, special formfactor GSC bus cards for networking, video and I/O
- Teleshare: One slot for a TSIO card, a special formfactor GSC card for 1990s teleworking
Storage
- SCSI 3.5″ Fast-Narrow SE 50-pin hard drive
- 3.5″ Floppy drive with special connector
I/O ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin Fast-Narrow single-ended
- Serial RS232C DB9, up to 115200 baud
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet RJ45
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- VGA HD15
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard & mouse
- Three phone jacks (microphone, headphones and line-in)
- One LED on the front for errors and status messages
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- HP-UX 11i v1 in 32-bit mode, TCOE and MTOE versions
- HP-UX 11.00 in 32-bit mode
- HP-UX 10.20 32-bit
- HP-UX 10.00 and HP-UX 10.10, pre-Y2K
- HP-UX 9.07 (possibly also 9.05), pre-Y2K
- NeXTSTEP, Mach-based Unix with beautiful GUI, PA-RISC in version 3.3
- PA-RISC Linux, main Linux port to PA-RISC
- OpenBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC
- NetBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC
- HPBSD, original 4.3BSD Unix on PA-RISC (closed)
- Mach 4/Lites, research microkernel with 4.4BSD (with issues)
- MkLinux, research Linux with Mach microkernel
- OSF MK-PA, OSF/1 Unix port to PA-RISC
- Windows NT was planned in 1994 for HP 9000 712 workstations
HP 9000 712 played a key role in the open source scene of the 2000s, when HP supported projects (like Linux) with 712 workstations for kernel development.
Pictures
712/60







712/100




Dimensions
Height | Width | Depth | Weight |
---|---|---|---|
70mm | 432mm | 400mm | 8kg |
Benchmarks
System | CPU | SPEC92 int |
SPEC92 fp |
SPEC95 int |
SPEC95 fp |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
HP 9000 712/60 | PA-7100LC 60 MHz | 67.0 | 85.3 | 2.08 | 2.66 |
HP 9000 712/80 | PA-7100LC 80 MHz | 97.1 | 123.3 | 3.12 | 3.55 |
HP 9000 712/100 | PA-7100LC 100 MHz | 117.2 | 144.2 | 3.76 | 4.06 |
HP 9000 712 with PA-7100LC processors were slightly faster than MIPS, Alpha, SPARC and Intel computers from the same time, but usually significantly faster in floating point, in SPEC benchmarks.
System | CPU | SPEC92 int |
SPEC92 fp |
SPEC95 int |
SPEC95 fp |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Intel Alder | Intel Pentium Pro 150MHz | 276.3 | 220.0 | 6.08 | 5.42 |
HP 9000 C110 | PA-7200 120 MHz | 167.0 | 269.0 | 6.00 | 8.14 |
HP 9000 735/125 | PA-7150 125 MHz | 136.0 | 201.0 | 3.97 | 4.61 |
DEC Alphastation 250 | DEC Alpha 21064A 266MHz | 198.6 | 262.5 | 4.18 | 6.27 |
IBM RS/6000 43P | PowerPC 604 100 MHz | 128.0 | 120.2 | 3.59 | 3.20 |
Sun SPARCstation 20 | Sun SuperSPARC II 75MHz | 125.8 | 121.2 | 3.11 | 3.10 |
Siemens PCE-5S | Intel Pentium 100MHz | 96.2 | 81.2 | 4.04 | 2.35 |
Intel Xpress | Intel Pentium 75MHz | 89.1 | 68.5 | 2.31 | 2.02 |
SGI Indigo2 | MIPS R4400SC 75MHz | 85.9 | 93.6 | ||
IBM RS/6000 250 | PowerPC 601 80MHz | 77.6 | 89.4 | 1.82 | 2.03 |
DEC AlphaStation 200 | DEC Alpha 21064 100MHz | 74.6 | 95.2 | 1.48 | 2.79 |
SGI IRIS Indigo IP20 | MIPS R4000 100MHz | 57.6 | 60.3 | ||
Micronics M4P | Intel 486DX4 100MHz | 51.4 | 26.6 | ||
Sun SPARCstation 10 | Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz | 50.2 | 60.2 | 1.13 | 1.38 |
Digital DECstation 5000 | MIPS R4000 50MHz | 43.2 | 42.1 |
Documentation
Manuals
- Model 712 Technical Reference (PDF) Hewlett Packard 1995 parisc linux
- Model 712 Service Handbook (PDF) Hewlett Packard 1995 parisc linux
LED messages
- LED errors and status messages might be displayed on the HP 9000 712 front LEDs
Product sheets
- A Low-Cost, High-Performance PA-RISC Workstation with Built-In Graphics, Multimedia, and Networking Capabilities (PDF, HP Journal 4/95) archive.org
- An I/O System on a Chip (LASI) (PDF, HP Journal 4/95) archive.org
- Product design of the Model 712 (PDF, HP Journal 4/95) archive.org
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 712/60 and 712/80i Workstations, Hewlett-Packard, 12/1993, 5091-9780E
- HP UNIX Workstations and Netstations archive.org, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997: mirror accessed January 2024)
- HP 9000 Models 712/60, 712/80, and 712/100 Workstations, HP Workstation Group archive.org, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997: mirror accessed January 2024)
- Product Brief HP 9000 Models 712/60, 712/80, and 712/100 Workstations (PDF, 88 KB, Hewlett Packard)
- HP 9000 New product Summary guide, technical sales document, second part is on 712, Hewlett Packard: 1993 1000bit.it
Articles
- Large parts of the HP Journal April 1995 Issue describe HP 9000 712
- First NeXT RISC Workstation: Our first look at NEXTSTEP on HP's low-cost pizza box, NeXTWORLD, April 1994
- Famous Graphics Chips: HP›s Artist Graphics, Jon Peddie, computer.org 2020
- Booting the HP 712, Sophie Haskins, Pizza Box Computer, 2018
- NeXTstep on the HP 712 Part 1: Installation, Sophie Haskins, Pizza Box Computer, 2020
- HP to field two low-end workstations, small Unix server, Computerworld 1993-12-20: Volume 27 Issue 51 archive.org
ROM update
There is a firmware update available for HP 9000 712 to the latest version 2.3.
- PF_C7120023.txt has details about contents and installation of the patch.
- PF_C7120023 contains the patch.
Other
- NetBSD 712 serial console HOWTO, instructions for serial console, i.e. headless
- Pinout for the AUI/RS232 Y-cable for the optional second Ethernet/serial card.