HP Visualize C132L, C160L
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1996 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| 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 |
The HP Visualize C132L and C160L PA-RISC workstations were entry-level Unix workstations with integrated, low-cost PA-7300LC processors 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 |
System architecture
Processors
| Model | CPU | Speed | L1 Cache | L2 Cache |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C132L | PA-7300LC | 132 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip | 1 MB off-chip |
| C160L | PA-7300LC | 160 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip | 1 MB off-chip |
The external L2 cache SRAM is optional and installed in two DIMM slots next to the CPU socket with modules of equal size. Usually, systems come with two 512 KB modules ≡ 1 MB L2.
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.
System 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 slots
- 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
Storage
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 ports
- 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 ?)
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 |
References
Manuals
- C160L Owners Guide (PDF, 1.6 MB)
- Service Handbook C Class (PDF, 1.5 MB)