HP Visualize C132L, C160L (C-Class)
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1996 |
| CPU | PA-7300LC 132-160 MHz |
| Cache | 128 KB L1 1 MB L2 |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Design | LASI |
| Drives | 3 SCSI 1 FD |
| Expansion | 2 GSC/EISA 1 EISA/PCI 1 PCI |
| Bandwidth | Mem 423 MB/s (C132L) Mem 427 MB/s (C160L) I/O 132 MB/s (C132L) I/O 160 MB/s (C160L) |
| I/O | 10E EVC 2 SCSI 2 serial parallel 2 PS/2 HIL audio |
Overview
These HP Visualize C-Class workstations were entry-level Unix workstations equipped with the integrated, low-cost PA-7300LC CPU and LASI chipset. They have a similar case to that of the old HP 9000/735 workstation — built of interlocking modules so the I/O board, MPU board etc. can be easily taken out.
The C132L and C160L were close to the slightly older and less powerful C100/C110, which were PA-7200 based, and technically almost identical to the smaller and less expandable B132L/B160L workstations.
The very rare PA-RISC laptops from RDI, the RDI PrecisionBooks from 1998, were technically based on the Visualize C132L, C160L and C180L.
| Model | Number | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| C132L | 9000/779 | 1996 | |
| C160L | 9000/779 | 1996 | $19,480 |
Internals
CPU
- C132L: PA-7300LC 132 MHz with 128 KB on-chip L1 and 1 MB off-chip L2 cache
- C160L: PA-7300LC 160 MHz with 128 KB on-chip L1 and 1 MB off-chip L2 cache
The off-chip L2 cache SRAM is optional and installed in two DIMM slots below the CPU socket, usually two 512 KB modules for 1 MB L2 cache.
Chipset
- LASI chipset
- Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
- NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- NCR 53C720 16-bit Fast-Wide differential (HVD) SCSI-2
- Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- Wax EISA bridge
- Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- Visualize-EG graphics with 2MB frame buffer memory
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, Floppy, HP-HIL)
» View a system-level ASCII-illustration of the system architecture.
Buses
- GSC-2 system and I/O bus (33 MHz with 132 MB/s peak data rate on C132L, 40 MHz 160 MB/s on C160L)
- EISA additional expansion I/O bus
- PCI-32/33 high-performance device I/O bus
- SCSI-2 single-ended bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Wide differential main storage I/O bus
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs, 60ns or faster
- Bus width: 128 data bits with 16 check bits
- Up to 8-way interleaving
- 12 slots for 16-256 MB modules
- 32 MB to 2 GB supported
Expansion
- Two slots for GSC (EISA formfactor) or EISA cards
- One slot for a PCI 32-bit/33 MHz, 3V or EISA card
- One slot for a PCI 32-bit/33 MHz, 3V card
- Slot layout, from top to bottom:
- EISA or GSC
- EISA or GSC
- PCI-32/33.3 V or EISA
- PCI-32/33
Drives
The disk-slider can accomodate up to three SCSI drives and one floppy drive simultaneously, the internal cabling (usually) includes one Wide-SCSI cable with three 68-pin connectors and a HVD-terminator at the end, one Narrow-SCSI with one 50-pin connector and one cable for the floppy.
The Narrow-SCSI cable is normally used for the external-accessible half-height 5.25″ CD/DAT drive, although it is of course also possible to connect a 50-pin SE hard drive. The cable can also be easily replaced with a variant with more connectors to use up to three 50-pin SE hard drives. The PDC can boot off these SE drives.
The Wide-SCSI cable is normally used for the internal 3.5″ 68-pin Fast-Wide high-voltage differential system drives. Up to three hard drives can be installed in the cage, which leaves no room for an external-accessible CD/DAT drive though. The Fast-Wide drives are also bootable from the PDC.
A standard configuration could look like this:
- Two 3.5″ 68-pin Fast-Wide differential (HVD) SCSI hard drives,
- One 3.5″ Floppy drive and
- One external-accessible half-height 5.25″ SCSI drive (CD/DAT).
External connectors
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended
- SCSI-3 68-pin Fast-Wide differential (HVD)
- Two Serial RS232C DB9 (up 460.8Kb/s)
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet RJ45
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- EVC graphics port, that needs a special HP adapter cable to convert to VGA
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse
- HP-HIL for input device loop
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones, line-in and ?)
References
Manuals
- C160L Owners Guide (PDF, 1.6 MB)
- Service Handbook C Class (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Operating systems
Benchmarks
| Model | SPEC95, int | SPEC95, fp | SPEC95 rate, int |
SPEC95 rate, fp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C132L | 6.45 | 6.70 | 58.1 | 60.3 |
| C160L | 7.75 | 7.56 | 7.75/7.56 | 69.7/68.1 |
Dimensions
| Height | Width | Depth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 138mm | 539mm | 447mm | 21kg |