RDI PrecisionBook
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1998 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| CPU | PA-7300LC 132-180 MHz |
| Cache | 128 KB L1 (+1 MB L2) |
| RAM | 512 MB |
| Design | LASI |
| Drives | 2 SCSI (2.5″!) |
| Expansion | 2 Cardbus |
| Bandwidth | Mem ~ 423 MB/s I/O 132-160 MB/s |
| I/O | 10E VGA SCSI floppy 2 PS/2 docking I/O breakout audio |
RDI PrecisionBooks are portable PA-RISC workstations, introduced in 1998 by RDI, shortly before the takeover by Tadpole.
The PrecisionBooks are based HP 9000 C132L/C160L workstation technology integrated into a portable case, geared towards engineering, software development, network management, financial modeling, military command operations, and intelligence gathering.
Since the RDI PrecisionBooks were technically equivalent to C132L/C160Ls, they supported the same PA-RISC operating systems and applications. A major addition by RDI to the system was an integrated Cardbus controller for which Tadpole supplied a driver kit for HP-UX.
| Model | Number | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| PrecisionBook 132 12″ | 9000/779 | 1998 | $11,995 |
| PrecisionBook 160 14″ | 9000/779 | 1998 | $14,995 |
| PrecisionBook 180 | 9000/779 | 1998 |
The PrecisionBooks apparently did not enjoy much commercial success, similar to RDI and Tadpole themselves. The PrecisionBook laptop case was used for other RISC laptops as well, for example the UltraSPARC-based Tadpole Ultrabook that was slightly more successful.
In addition to the PrecisionBook, only two other portable PA-RISC computers were produced – the military-focused SAIC Galaxy 1100, based on HP 9000 712, and the Japanese Hitachi 3050RX/100C based on their own design.
System architecture
Processors
| Model | CPU | Speed | L1 Cache | L2 Cache |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PrecisionBook 132 | PA-7300LC | 132 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip | 1 MB off-chip optional |
| PrecisionBook 160 | PA-7300LC | 160 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip | 1 MB off-chip optional |
| PrecisionBook 180 | PA-7300LC | 180 MHz | 64/64 KB on-chip | 1 MB off-chip optional |
The external L2 cache was optional but was supplied with most systems.
Chipset
- LASI integrated chipset
- (integrated) NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- (integrated) Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- (integrated) Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- Phantom PseudoBC GSC+ port
- Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- Visualize-EG (Graffiti) graphics with 2MB frame buffer memory
- 1 MB flash memory
- Two Cirrus CL-PD6832 PCI-CardBus bridges
- CMD PCI0643 IDE/UDMA33 controller
» View a system-level ASCII-illustration of the system architecture.
Display
- Integrated display, option of 12.1″ (0.24mm dot pitch) or 14.1″ (0.28mm dot pitch) active matrix LCD (the 14-inch version were most popular)
- XGA resolution (1024×768), 16M colors, 60Hz refresh
- External monitor output supports VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA and 1600×1200 resolutions at refresh rates of 60, 72 and 75Hz
- At XGA resolution the LCD and external monitor can be used at the same time, with different resolutions on the external monitor the LCD blanks
Input
- PS/2-compatible, 97-key keyboard
- Three-button trackpad
Energy
- Lithium-Ion battery with 40Wh capacity, 450g, 0.5-1 hours battery time
- Recharge time of 2.5 hours when powered off
- Laptop draws about 70W continous
- AC adapter provides 19V (DC) 3.68A, non-standard pinout
System buses
- GSC-2 general system-level I/O bus
- PCI-32/33 device I/O bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus disk I/O
- PDH bus, peripheral interface connecting to flash memory, NVRAM and PSM bus
- PSM bus, provides connection to the power-supply module
Memory
- Two sockets for 32–512 MB (2×256)
- Proprietary ECC modules, 32-256 MB modules, 60ns, 144-bit wide
Expansion slots
- Two Cardbus slots, for Cardbus and PCMCIA expansion cards
Storage
- Two 2.5″ IDE hard drives with SCSI converter or 2.5″ SCSI drives
- Since 2.5-inch SCSI drives are uncommon RDI used regular IDE notebook drives with a special IDE-SCSI converter from ADTX)
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended
- Ethernet RJ45
- VGA 15-pin Dsub graphics connector
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard/mouse
- Audio (microphone, headphones, line-in)
- 15-pin connector for external floppy
- High-pin-count connector for docking station
- Connector for an special I/O breakout cable to connect:
- Two serial RS232C DB9
- Parallel DB25
- AUI 10 Mbit Ethernet
Operating systems
Not all devices or expansion options and modules are supported in Linux and the BSDs. OpenBSD fully supports the Cardbus controller and a range of different Cardbus and PCMCIA devices (Fast-Ethernet, WLAN etc.).
Benchmarks
| Model | SPEC95, int | SPEC95, fp |
|---|---|---|
| PrecisionBook 132 | 6.49 | 6.54 |
| PrecisionBook 160 | 7.78 | 7.39 |
| PrecisionBook 180 | 9.22 | 9.43 |
References
- PrecisionBook hardware reference guide (Tadpole RDI, link gone)
- PrecisionBook user guide (Tadpole RDI, link gone)
- RDI software for HP-UX 10.20 installation guide (Tadpole RDI, link gone)
- RDI software release notes (Tadpole RDI, link gone)
- PrecisionBook Technical White Paper (Tadpole RDI: August 1999, link gone)
- ADTX SCSI-IDE converters information from Michael Shalayeff (link gone)
- Workstations go mobile, CNET Jan. 26, 1998
- HP Professional, March 1998 page 12, hparchive.org archive
- CIO Magazine May 1998 page 72, google books