HP 9000 715 Workstations
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1992 and 1994-1995 |
| Period | Growth (II) Maturity (III) |
| Series | 700 Series |
| CPU |
(33, 50, 75): PA-7100 32-bit (64, 80, 100): PA-7100LC 32-bit 33-100 MHz |
| Caches | 128 KB-1 MB L1 |
| RAM | 192 MB (33) 256 MB (others) |
| Design | ASP (33, 50, 75) LASI (64, 80, 100) |
| Drives | 2 SCSI 1 SCSI/FD |
| Expansion | 1 SGC (33, 50, 75) 1 GSC (64, 80, 100) |
| I/O | Ethernet SCSI 2 serial parallel VGA HIL (33, 50, 75) SMD-10 (64, 80, 100) audio |
HP 9000 715 are 32-bit PA-RISC workstations released by HP in two groups in the mid-1990s. Often used for technical design, CAD/CAM and engineering, 715 workstations were powerful, expandable HP-UX systems and a popular choice of the RISC and Unix-era of the 1990s.
HP 9000 715 were marketed against other Unix workstations of the 90s: SGI Indy, DEC Alpha, IBM RS/6000. With advanced video adapters, 715 were often used for graphics (2D and 3D) and visual design on Unix software.
There were two different 715 designs.
Early versions in 1992 used HP ASP chipset with PA-7100 CPUs: 715/33, 715/50 and 715/75 with Apollo
branding, the 715/33 being one of the slowest and worst PA-RISC workstations ever.
The second generation in 1994 used integrated HP LASI design and PA-7100LC: 715/64, 715/80, 715/100 and 100XC, close to the pizzabox HP 9000 712. The HP 9000 715/100XC workstation was a rather fast machine for the 1990s.
HP marketed the 1994-vintage LASI HP 9000 715 as supporting bi-endian switching for current and future operating systems
, a reference to aborted Windows NT PA-RISC and other 1990s plans for operating systems.
715 workstations did support NeXTSTEP on PA-RISC well.
With easy installation, upgradability, expansion, and serviceability
HP 9000 715 were popular Unix computers of the 1990s throughout industry and academia, followed by a second life in the 2000s in hobbyist circles.
- HP 9000 715/33 were introduced in 1992 for $4,995
- HP 9000 715/50 were introduced in 1992 for $11,895
- HP 9000 715/75 were introduced in 1992 for $11,005
- HP 9000 715/64 were introduced in 1994 for $10,000
- HP 9000 715/80 were introduced in 1994 for $13,000
- HP 9000 715/100 were introduced in 1994 for $19,000
- HP 9000 715/100XC were introduced in 1995 for $21,100
HP 9000 715 desktop PA-RISC workstations were followed by HP Visualize B132L et al. and Visualize C110 in 1996.
System
Processors
| System | CPU | Speed | Cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 715/33 | PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit | 33 MHz | 128 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/50 | PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit | 50 MHz | 128 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/64 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 64 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 64 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/75 | PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit | 75 MHz | 512 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/80 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 80 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/100 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
| HP 9000 715/100XC | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 1024 KB off-chip |
Chipset
715/33, 50 and 75 (first version, ASP)
The first version of HP 9000 715 workstations used PA-7100 processors and an early-1990s HP architecture based on HP LASI chipset and a PBus/VSC design, which was not as highly integrated as the later, LASI-based second 715 design.
- HP ASP chipset
- HP Viper memory and I/O controller
- NCR 53C700 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Intel 82596DX 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Intel 82350 EISA bus adapter chipset (EISA-GSC)
- HP Stinger CRX graphics, 8-bit, 1280×1024 gray or 1024×768 color
- Audio 16-bit CS4215 CODEC
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, i8042)
715/64, 80 and 100 (second version, LASI)
HP 9000 715 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 chipset, highly integrated
- Memory and I/O controller integrated into the PA-7100 processor
- 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 Wax, EISA bridge and HP-HIL
- HP Artist graphics, 8-bit, 1 MB VRAM (or 2), 1280×1024
- Integrated Other I/O like serial, parallel, HP-HIL, 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.
System buses
- GSC system level I/O bus
- EISA additional expansion I/O bus
- SCSI-2 single-ended narrow bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 PBus processor/memory bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 VSC main system bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 SGC expansion of the mainbus to the SGC expansion card
Expansion
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs
- Eight sockets for 8-32 MB modules
- 715/33 6 memory sockets
- 16 MB to 192 MB (6×32) or 256 MB (8×32) supported
Expansion cards
- 715/33, 50, 75 One slot for SGC cards (EISA formfactor)
- 715/64, 80, 100 One slot for GSC cards (EISA formfactor)
- With an HP adapter EISA cards can be used in the GSC or SGC slots
Storage
- Two SCSI 3.5″ Fast-Narrow SE 50-pin hard drives
- SCSI half-height 5.25″ Fast-Narrow SE 50-pin drive, externally accessible
Ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended Fast-Narrow
- Two serial RS232C DB9 (up to 115200 baud)
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- VGA HD15
- 715/33, 50, 75 HP-HIL connector for input devices
- 715/64, 80, 100 SMD-10 connector, to connect HIL and PS2
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones and line-in and ?)
- Nine LEDs on the front for errors and status messages
Operating systems
Unix was the main operating system for HP 9000 715 with good support for HP-UX between HP-UX 9.05 and HP-UX 11.00 or 11i as well as native NeXTSTEP support.
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- 715/64, 80, 100 HP-UX 11i v1 in 32-bit mode, TCOE and MTOE versions (December 2000-December 2004)
- 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 (9.05, 9.07), pre-Y2K
- Software on HP-UX: DTP, Office and engineering (CAD/CAM)
- NeXTSTEP, Mach-based Unix with beautiful GUI, PA-RISC in version 3.3
HP 9000 715 were often used in the open source scene of the 2000s, when many 715 became available second or third hand. Most open source systems support them well.
- 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
Many research and development operating systems were ported to 715 workstations during the 1990s with broad development support:
- HPBSD, 4.3BSD Unix on PA-RISC from Utah University
- 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
Pictures
Performance
HP 9000 715 with 32-bit PA-RISC processors were quick, medium-level Unix workstations of the early to mid-1990s. Depending on the CPU, 715 were similar or slightly faster than contemporary MIPS, Alpha, SPARC and Intel designs and usually faster in floating point. Intel’s Pentium Pro and Alpha were eventually much faster than PA-7100/PA-7100LC.
The main competition of HP 9000 715 workstations in the mid-1990s were other technical Unix workstations for CAD/CAM, like faster Sun SPARCstations and DEC AlphaStations, or SGI Indy and Indigo2, which were usually on par or a bit slower, depending the exact RISC processor. PA-RISC and 715 were usually faster than mid-level Pentium PCs.
| System | Processor | SPEC92 int/fp |
SPEC95 int/fp |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 715/33 | PA-7100 33 MHz | 32.5 | 52.4 | 1.01 | 1.58 |
| 715/50 | PA-7100 50 MHz | 49.2 | 78.8 | 1.53 | 2.46 |
| 715/64 | PA-7100LC 64 MHz | 80.6 | 109.4 | 2.52 | 3.31 |
| 715/75 | PA-7100 75 MHz | 82.6 | 127.2 | 2.51 | 3.85 |
| 715/80 | PA-7100LC 80 MHz | 96.3 | 123.2 | 3.01 | 3.50 |
| 715/100 | PA-7100LC 100 MHz | 115.1 | 138.7 | 3.76 | 4.06 |
| 715/100XC | PA-7100LC 100 MHz | 132.2 | 184.6 | 4.55 | 4.70 |
| System | Processor | SPEC92 int/fp |
SPEC95 int/fp |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Alder | Pentium Pro 150MHz | 276.3 | 220.0 | 6.08 | 5.42 |
| Sun Ultra 1 | Sun UltraSPARC 143MHz | 215.0 | 303.0 | 5.41 | 7.90 |
| HP 9000 C110 | PA-7200 120 MHz | 167.0 | 269.0 | 6.00 | 8.14 |
| DEC Alphastation 250 | Alpha 21064A 266MHz | 198.6 | 262.5 | 4.18 | 6.27 |
| HP 9000 735/125 | PA-7150 125 MHz | 136.0 | 201.0 | 3.97 | 4.61 |
| IBM RS/6000 43P | PowerPC 604 100 MHz | 128.0 | 120.2 | 3.59 | 3.20 |
| HP 9000 755/99 | PA-7150 99 MHz | 109.1 | 167.9 | 3.22 | 4.06 |
| Siemens PCE-5S | Intel Pentium 100MHz | 96.2 | 81.2 | 4.04 | 2.35 |
| SGI Indy | MIPS R4400SC 75MHz | 88.1 | 96.6 | ||
| 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 | ||
| Digital DECpc XL | Intel Pentium 66MHz | 51.6 | 47.5 | ||
| Sun SPARCstation 10 | Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz | 50.2 | 60.2 | 1.13 | 1.38 |
| HP 9000 730 | PA-7000 66 MHz | 47.8 | 75.4 | 1.50 | 2.30 |
| HP Vectra VL2 | Intel 486DX4 100MHz | 45.8 | 23.1 | ||
| DECstation 5000 | MIPS R4000 50MHz | 43.2 | 42.1 | ||
| Siemens PCE-4C | Intel 486DX2 66MHz | 35.8 | 16.1 | ||
| Motorola 8000 | Motorola 88100 33MHz | 27.7 | 18.8 | ||
| SGI IRIS Indigo IP12 | MIPS R3000 33MHz | 22.4 | 24.2 | ||
Documentation
Most HP documentation is only available at archive.org and other archives, with most official sources, articles and journals having disappeared in the 2010s.
Manuals
- Model 715 Service Handbook, Hewlett Packard (August 1995, A2600–90039) parisc linux
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715 Owner’s Guide, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, A2084-90692) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33 and 715/50 Owner’s Guide, Hewlett Packard (January 1993, A2084-90613) hpmuseum
- Hardware Installation Guide Model 715, Hewlett Packard (April 1993, A2084-90012) hpmuseum
LED messages
- LED errors and status messages might be displayed on the HP 9000 715 front LEDs
Product sheets
- HP UNIX Workstations and Netstations, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997) archive.org
- HP 9000 Models 715/64, 715/80, 715/100, and 715/100XC Workstations, HP Workstation Group, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997) archive.org
- Quick Reference Guide HP 9000 715 Workstations, Hewlett Packard 4/1994, 5962-9710LE 1000bit.it
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/725 Workstation Price & Configuration Guide, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8811E) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 Model 715/75 Model 725/75 Sales Guide, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8794) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo Series 700 Performance Brief, Hewlett Packard (October 1992, 5091-5750E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33 and 715/50, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5091-5779E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33, 715/50 and 715/75, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5091-9991E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/64, 715/80 and 715/100, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5962-9555E) hpmuseum
ROM update
There is a firmware update available for the 715/64, /80 and /100.
- C7120023.text Instructions for 1.6 Firmware Update parisc linux
- C7120023.frm 1.6 Firmware Update parisc linux
- NOT for 715/100XC