HP 9000 748i, 748 VME Workstations
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1994, 1996 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| Series | 740 VME |
| CPU | PA-7100LC 32-bit PA-7300LC 32-bit 64-165 MHz |
| Caches | 128-256 KB L1 0-512 KB L2 |
| RAM | 256 MB (748i) 1 GB (748) |
| Design | LASI |
| Drives | 4 SCSI |
| Expansion | (2 GSC-M)/ (2 PMC PCI) 4 EISA/ 4 PCI 6 VME |
| I/O | micro Ethernet SCSI micro serial micro parallel micro VGA 2 PS/2 micro audio |
HP 9000 748i and 748 ruggedized PA-RISC workstations are HP 9000 743i and 744 VME boards built into a heavy VME case like the 747 with integrated I/O.
The rugged VME cases were designed for durability and reliability in harsh environments
and had built-in expansion options for six 6U VME slots for additional I/O boards, up to four SCSI devices and a four-slot EISA or PCI cage.
Model 748 was exceptionally flexible and responsive
, based on 32-bit PA-RISC and compatible with other HP 9000 technology and applications.
Designed for instrumentation purposes, HP 9000 748, like the other HP PA-RISC VME computers, were often used in manufacturing, scientific but also military uses like ISR and targeting.
- HP 9000 748i/64 were introduced in 1994 for $13,910
- HP 9000 748i/100 were introduced in 1994 for $19,910
- HP 9000 748/132L were introduced in 1996 for $12,000
- HP 9000 748/165L were introduced in 1997
HP 74x VME products were discontinued in 2002 as customers have migrated to new solutions and platforms more rapidly than anticipated
with end of support between 2003 and 2007.
System architecture
Processors
| System | CPU | Speed | L1 cache | L2 cache |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 748i/64 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 64 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip | |
| HP 9000 748i/100 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip | |
| HP 9000 748/132L | PA-7300LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 132 MHz | 128 KB on-chip | |
| HP 9000 748/165L | PA-7300LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 165 MHz | 128 KB on-chip | 512 KB off-chip |
Chipset
- HP LASI ASIC, which features:
- Integrated NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- HP Wax EISA bridge
- HP Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- 748 HP Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
- 748 HP Visualize-EG
Graffiti
graphics with 2MB frame buffer memory - Integrated HP Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- VME controller
- Other I/O (serial, parallel)
System buses
- GSC bus
- Optional EISA bus
- Optional PCI-32/33 bus
- VME bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus
Memory
- 748i and 748 use different cards
- Up to four cards
- 748i 8-64 MB special ECC mezzanine cards, maximum 256 MB RAM
- 748 16-256 MB special ECC mezzanine cards, maximum 1 GB RAM
Expansion slots
- Two sites for GSC-mezzanine (GSC-M) cards, requires A4219A GSC Expansion kit or
- Two sites for PCI-mezzanine (PMC) cards, requires A4504A PMC bridge board
(two additional PMC-sites can be obtained through the addition of the A4509A PMC Expander board to the above) - Six 6U VME slots
- Either four EISA or four PCI slots in a separate I/O cage
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin Fast-Narrow single-ended
- Two Serial micro-RS232C DB91
- Micro-Parallel DB251
- Micro-DB15 Ethernet AUI 15-pin1
- Micro-DB15 VGA graphics1
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard & mouse
- Micro-DB9 for audio breakout1
- On configurations with an EISA cage: HIL connector
Notes
- These micro-connectors need HP conversion cables to provide the normal-sized versions of their respective connectors
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- HP-UX 11i v1 in 32-bit mode
- HP-UX 11.00 in 32-bit mode
- HP-UX 10.20 32-bit
- 748i HP-UX 10.00 and HP-UX 10.10, pre-Y2K
- 748i HP-UX 9.07 (possibly also 9.05), pre-Y2K
- PA-RISC Linux, main Linux port to PA-RISC, supported by HP in the 2000s
- OpenBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC
Benchmarks
| System | SPEC95 int |
SPEC95 fp |
|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 748i/64 | 2.52 | 3.31 |
| HP 9000 HP 9000 748i/100 | 3.76 | 4.03 |
| HP 9000 748/132 | 6.45 | 6.70 |
| HP 9000 748/165L | 7.90 | 7.64 |
Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:
| System | CPU | SPEC95 int |
SPEC95 fp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Alder | Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz | 8.09 | 6.75 |
| Sun Ultra 2 1170 | Sun UltraSPARC 167MHz | 6.34 | 9.33 |
| DEC Alphastation 255 | DEC Alpha 21064A 233MHz | 4.27 | 5.09 |
| SGI Indy | MIPS R5000 150MHz | 3.97 | 4.20 |
| IBM RS/6000 43P | PowerPC 604 100 MHz | 3.59 | 3.20 |
| Sun SPARCstation 20 | Sun SuperSPARC II 75MHz | 3.11 | 3.10 |
| DEC AlphaStation 200 | DEC Alpha 21064 100MHz | 1.48 | 2.79 |
| Sun SPARCstation 10 | Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz | 1.13 | 1.38 |
Dimensions
| Height | Width | Depth | Weight | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 324mm | 425mm | 419mm | 29kg | 2×350W |
Documentation
- Model 748 Workstation Owner's Guide (PDF, 3.2 MB, Hewlett Packard 1997) parisc linux
- 743, 744 and 748 Technical Reference Manual (PDF, 2.2 MB, Hewlett Packard 1997) parisc linux
- HP Model 748 Service Handbook (.pdf, 3.6 MB, Hewlett Packard 1997) parisc linux
- VMEbus Single Board Computers and Industrial Workstations archive.org, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997: mirror accessed January 2024)
Other
- Refer also to the 743i and 744 workstations