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The HP-3000 series of computers dates back to 1972 with the first model, the HP3000/CX which ran the MultiProgramming Executive, MPE-C operating system with 64K bytes of core memory (addressed as 32K 16-bit words). Subsequent models (Series II, Series III) added additional addressing capabilities to include additional "banks" of 64Kb memory and each model brought out a new operating system (MPE II, MPE III). All models were and have continued to be object-code compatible (at least forward-compatible) with few exceptions (most notably the change in floating-point format from the CX). Microprocessor-based 3000's were introduced with the models 30 and 33 concurrent with a changeover of the prevalent I/O architecture to HP-IB. Later models expanded the product line to the models 40, 44, and 64 and correspondingly the MPE IV operating system. Shortly thereafter, "disc cacheing" came into being and the controversial "MPE V" operating system. MPE V was eventually delivered in three flavors: * MPE V/P for existing 3x, 4x, and 6x models which was marketed as an upgrade (40-42, 44-48, and 64-68) but involved no hardware (if the memory expansion was omitted). This provided disc cacheing software. * MPE V/E which *did* require hardware upgrade (to support extended CST tables, among other things) providing disc cache and extended tables. * MPE-V R for the series II/III to give MPE-V functionality without the disc cacheing option (they were considered too memory constrained). This was the last release of MPE for these systems (now unsupported). HP experimented with a 32-bit version of the HP3000 CISC-based processor code named "Vision" but it never came to market; instead they opted for the RISC-based "Spectrum" machines where the current HP3000/9xx systems have their roots. Although radically different in architecture and in their instruction sets, the "Spectrum" series maintained an imbedded "Compatibility Mode" facility which (largely but not completely) kept the forward-compatibility object code concept alive. The underlying operating system (initially called HPE internally) became MPE/XL. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS from the FAQ document, available for free via the Internet (instructions at end). Each answer also lists the question number from the FAQ document. An outline of all the questions and answers, grouped by topic area, appears at the beginning of the FAQ document. How does the performance of various HP 3000 models compare? From question 2.1.6.3 in the FAQ document, several HP3000-L members contributed to the following list; some of the numbers came from various HP marketing pieces, some were extrapolated (BIG CAVEAT; relative performance numbers are very rough approximations and are only for general comparisons--your mileage will vary). Relative HP 3000 System Performance HP 3000 System Relative Performance HP 3000 1/1973 3000/CX 11/1974 Series II 6/1976 MPE II Series 30, 33 0.5 10/1978 (33) 10/1979 (30) Series III 0.6 6/1978 MPE III Series 37, 37XE 0.6 11/1984 Micro 3000 RX 1.3 11/1986 MPE V Micro 3000 LX, GX 1.3 Series 39, 40, 44 1.0 1980 (44) 10/1981 (40) MPE IV Series 42, 48 1.3 5/1983 (42) 5/1983 (48) MPE V Series 42XP, 52, 58 1.7 9/1985 (42XP) MPE V Series 64 3.2 10/1981 Series 68 4.0 5/1983 9/1985 (68C) MPE V Series 70 4.4 2/1986 Series 920 1.9 Series 922 3.2 Series 932 5.0 Series 948 10.7 Series 958 13.3 Series 925 2.9 Series 935 5.9 Series 949 11.7 Series 950 6.5 Series 955 10.0 Series 960 14.7 Series 980/100 22.0 Series 980/200 37.0 Series 980/300 49.0 Series 980/400 59.0 Series 917LX 10.0 Series 937 10.0 Series 947 10.0 Series 957 16.0 Series 967 20.0 Series 977SX 26.0 Series 987 32.0 Series 987/150 45.0 Series 987/200 60.0 Series 918 10.0 Series 928 14.0 Series 968 21.0 Series 978 25.0 Series 939SK 28.0 Series 959KS/100 35.0 Series 987/150 45.0 Series 987/200 60.0 Series 959KS/200 62.0 Series 988 39.0 Series 959KS/300 86.0 Series 959KS/400 110.0 Corporate Business System 990 28.0 Corporate Business System 992/100 5.0 Corporate Business System 992/200 60.0 Corporate Business System 992/300 81.0 Corporate Business System 992/400 100.0 Corporate Business System 991 33.0 Corporate Business System 995/100 42.0 Corporate Business System 995/200 71.0 Corporate Business System 995/300 96.0 Corporate Business System 995/400 118.0 Corporate Business System 995/500 139.0 Corporate Business System 995/600 160.0 Corporate Business System 995/700 180.0 Corporate Business System 995/800 200.0 The HP 3000 Story. The HP 3000 Computer family (From the book: "Beyond RISC!" by Software Research Northwest) Before beginning a detailed look into the newest HP 3000s, it is worthwhile to look at where they came from. After all, their ancestors stretch back a lot of decades (a long time in computer-years), and several members of the previous generations look like they will still be around for years to come. The HP3000 for half a century! As most of us know, HP's first computer (actually an "instrument- automator") was introduced in 1966. By 1969, a project was under way to develop a brand new, general purpose computer. Code-named the Omega-32, this machine was to be a 32-bit-per-word computer featuring up to 4 megabytes of memory, a complex instruction set, and a hardware stack. Unfortunately, the project never made it past the paper stage. A year later the Alpha project was born, resurrected from the remains of Omega-32. This time, however, the design had been sealed down to a 16-bit-per-word, 128- kilobyte computer. Still remaining, however, were the complex instruction set and stack, which would be implemented in the firmware via microcode. In the meantime, the HP software designers, many of them from a Burroughs background, set out to design the system's software. Burroughs' operating system, the MCP, was written in a high-level language called "ESPOL", a special version of its ALGOL language. In a similar manner, HP began to design POS (Primary Operating System) in another variant of ALGOL that they dubbed SPL, for Systems Programming Language. The First Generation Unlike the ill-fated Omega, the Alpha project survived. The hardware was given the product name HP 3000, and the POS operating system was called "MPE", for Multi- Programming Executive. Aimed at the market for administrative and business computing, this computer was introduced in 1972. These first years were rough ones for HP. Early on, the hardware and software were so plagued with reliability problems that it was difficult to get any work done on them. A few years later, when the machine began to settle down, users began to realize that 128 kilobytes was just not very much memory, considering the sophisticated operating system and the needs of multiple users. Relief came in May 1976 with the introduction of the HP 3000 Series II. Through the addition of the concept of "banks" of memory and bank registers, the machine was new capable of supporting 512 kilobytes of memory. It was around this time that HP announced its objective to decrease the HP 3000's price/performance ratio by 30 percent per year. In other words, at any given time, you could assume that a year from now you would be able to buy either a computer comparable in performance to today's computer at a price 30 percent less than today's, or buy a computer 30 percent more powerful for the same price as today's. 1978 saw the release of two new models, the HP 3000 Series III and the HP 3000 Series 33. The Series III was much like the Series II but the bank concept was expanded to allow up to 2 megabytes of memory. The Series 33, on the other hand, was a departure from the HP 3000. This was a brand new processor, based on hardware technology known as SOS (Silicon-on-Sapphire). Though generally slower than the Series III in overall throughput, the Series 33 was the first HP 3000 to support terminal speeds in excess of 2400 baud. In 1979, HP introduced the Series 30, a sealed-down version of the Series 33. While it had an identical SPU (System Processing Unit) to the Series 33, the Series 30 had lower limits in maximum memory and peripherals than its big brother. The next year saw the announcement of the next significant SPU enhancement with the introduction of the HP 3000 Series 44. Supporting up to 4 megabytes of memory and built with the fastest SPU to date, this computer offered the highest throughput yet seen on a HP 3000, with terminal support up to 9600 baud. In 1981, HP introduced two new models: The Series 40, using the same SPU as the Series 44, but with lower limits analogous to the Series 30, and a new machine at the high-performance end, the Series 64. The Series 64 offered several enhancements over all previous HP 3000s. For one, memory was increased to 8 megabytes; but much more important, you could order a Series 64 with not one, but two InterModule Buses (IMBs). By now, many sophisticated, database-oriented commercial applications had been written for the HP 3000, and the vast majority were I/O-bound. That is, the number of inputs and outputs to disc was the most limited resource; total system throughput was determined by the bottleneck in getting data to and from the disc. By adding an additional IMB, the 1/0-to-dise rate was effectively doubled, assuming that multiple discs were spread over the two buses and that accesses to discs on both buses were required concurrently. Together with the faster SPU, the Series 64 brought the HP 3000 to a new level, by its ability to support as many as five times the number of users a Series II could -- with equal or improved performance. The Series 64 also added something else to the HP 3000 family. Until this time, the firmware that contained the microcode was etched into ROMs (Read-Only Memories). ROMS, after all, had traditionally been faster than RAMs (Random Access Memories), which could not only be read but also written to. However, taking advantage of the new, faster RAMs that had recently been developed, the microcode of the Series 64 was put on RAM. Typically, a new floppy disc arrives with each new release of MPE and the microinstructions are then loaded from the floppy into the RAMS. If it becomes necessary to change the firmware, say to fix a bug, add a new machine instruction, or speed up an existing instruction, the customer would merely get a new floppy. With ROM-based HP 3000s, however, a Customer Engineer would have to come and change chips inside the computer to accomplish the same upgrade. Over the next few years, with the surge of technology brought on by the advances of large-scale integration techniques, the new models continued to be introduced at a rate approximating the calling of numbers at a bingo parlor. Here's a list of the HP 3000 models introduced between the years 1983 and 1986: Series 42, Series 39, Series 48, Series 68, Series 37, Series 70, Series 42XP, Series 52, Series 48XP, Series 58, Series 37XE, the Micro 3000, and the Micro 3000XE. The Series 37, code-named "Mighty Mouse", extended the HP 3000 family at the entry level. This computer, which is about the size of a small file cabinet, is designed to fit into the office environment. Unlike most computers of its power, it does not require a special "computer room" environment with special air conditioning, humidity control, conditioned electrical power, and raised flooring. Typically, it is placed right in the office next to someone's desk, plugged into the wall, and immediately begins supporting five or ten users with excellent response time. I was so fortunate to get the first "Mighty Mouse" installed in Denmark. In fact, it was my very first HP 3000 and of cause we needed an upgrade within the first year. At the high end of the MPE V-based HP 3000 family is the Series 70. Through a number of enhancements, this computer averages about a 40 percent performance improvement over the Series 68. Memory is expandable up to 16 megabytes, a 144-fold increase over the original Series I. In addition, a 128 kilobyte memory cache is included. This memory cache holds both data and instructions. When a required word is available in this cache, it can be obtained in a single machine cycle. Additional improvements came from recoding certain frequently used operating system routines in microcode. From a software point of view, an analogous history has also unfolded. Along with the hardware enhancements of the Series II came MPE II, a major new release of the operating system. Through the years, regular updates to MPE have been released, usually at the rate of between one and four per year. Every two or three years, a major release comes out. The most recent, MPE V, added (among other enhancements) disc caching. Remembering that most sites were, in fact, I/O-bound before the advent of disc caching, this turned out to be a major performance enhancer for many systems. By adding more memory and using spare CPU cycles that used to be wasted waiting for disc I/Os to complete, many sites are able to eliminate 50 or 60 percent of the physical I/Os to disc, satisfying the I/0 request out of a cache domain. This technique has proved so successful that for the first time since the introduction of the HP 3000, many sites are finding that their machines have become CPU-bound, and are no longer I/O-bound. These releases of MPE are commonly called "MITs" (Master Installation Tapes). The identification of the various MITS, however, is not an easy thing to understand or explain. Through the years, HP has tried several different naming methods to keep track of the various versions. None seems to have worked very well, and with each change in the naming method, the confusion grows greater. Certain names, such as "MPE VIT-Delta 5" or "MPE V/UB-Delta l", are commonly known among users, but the actual software that these names correspond to use identifications such as "G.A1.06" or "G.02.BO". Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a definitive naming system will be implemented soon. Perhaps the most impressive fact about all of these versions is that with very few exceptions, programs written and compiled years ago will run without modification on the current MIT. The Second Generation From the mid-eighties, HP produces new computers based on HP Precision Architecture (HPPA). Because there seems to be a lot of confusion over names, it is important to initially get a few definitions straight. Even though the new machines are quite different, from an internal perspective, than the HP 3000s described above, HP has chosen to call some of the new ones HP 3000s as well. This makes sense because from an external perspective they look quite similar. These machines run the next generation of the MPE operating system, called "MPE XL"; they look like HP 3000s when you log on; and they run almost the same software as all other HP 3000s. To distinguish them from the HP 3000s described above, HP refers to the new machines as MPE XL-based HP 3000s, and to the others as MPE V-based HP 3000s. Later on when MPE got its Posix-interface the name of the operating system switched to be MPE/iX, to tell the world that these machines would be able to run UNIX-programs as well. As previously stated, some of the new HPPA machines are called HP 3000s, but what about the others? Well, although in some cases the hardware is nearly identical to the hardware of the MPE/iX-based HP 3000s, these other machines use the HP-UX operating system, instead of MPE. These machines are known as HP 9000 Model 800s. Though full-fledged HPPA computers, they are not members of the HP 3000 family. As usual, the MPE/iX-based HP 3000s will run virtually all of the software from the MPE V-based HP 3000s in an emulation mode known as Compatibility Mode (CM). The software that will not run tends to be Privileged Mode programs that rely on system tables or other hardware aspects of the MPE V- based machines that have no counterpart on the MPE/iX-based machines. It is possible to write programs that better utilize the features of HPPA. Instead of running in the Compatibility Mode, these programs run in what is known as Native Mode (NM), and as such, will not always run on MPE V-based systems. With the introduction of this new generation of HP 3000s, HP will continue to meet its price-performance and compatibility objectives through the end of the century. This new lease on life has undoubtedly contributed the HP 3000 to be one of the most successful and popular computers of all time. In June of 1987, HP celebrated "30K the 3000 Way"; 30,000 HP 3000s -- in banks, in lumber mills, on oil rigs, in drug stores, in colleges, and in almost every type of business environment imaginable. A great day In 1997 the HP 3000 has been around for 25 year, and large parties where celebrated all over the World, me for my part; I celebrated The success story in Stuttgart in Germany (Boeblingen (the European headquarter) is a suburban of Stuttgart). The Third Generation In 1998 HP was working together with Intel (the PC motor manufacture) on a classified project called "Mersed". The known technology of today