From: rvenable@helix.nih.gov (Richard M. Venable)
Subject: Re: Just what is in a Apollo 9000/730?
Reply-To: rvenable@helix.nih.gov (Richard M. Venable)
Organization: National Institutes of Health
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 23:43:57 GMT

Sorry for the length of this, but I felt the context was important...

In article <9330037@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>, wlw@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Will
Walker) writes:
|> In comp.sys.apollo, rvenable@helix.nih.gov (Richard M. Venable)
writes:
|> > (2) PA-RISC existed before the merger; just not in the same form. 
To
|> > quote from "Workstation" magazine:
|> > 
|> > 	All three models use a new generation of the PA-RISC
|> >  	architecture that adds a small number of critical
|> > 	compound, or superscalar, instructions found in
|> > 	Apollo's PRISM architecture to the basic instruction
|> > 	set of HP 9000 Series 800.
|> 
|> The "small number" is two.  They are FMPYADD and FMPYSUB.
------
Only these two? And not a multiply as well?  Seems a little trivial
compared
to way it's described in Workstation (Feb91, p.44; Apr91, p. 1).
------
|> > Other relevant quotes from an earlier issue of the same rag,
attributed
|> > to Bob Weinberger (yet another marketing person):
|> > 
|> > 	The Apollo Systems Division here in Chelmsford has been
|> > 	given strategic ownership for HP's workstation RISC program.
|> 
|> I seem to recall that this happened well after the 720/730/750 were
|> finished, but I could be wrong.  Do you have a date for this
article?
------
The above quote and the following one were both from the cover story of
the _Feb90_ issue, which again emphasizes the development of a "third
generation of RISC workstations that will combine HPPA with elements 
of Apollo's PRISM architecture"  That was over two and half years ago.
------
|> > 	HP previously has not had a specific workstation RISC program.
|> > 	HP's existing RISC workstations were all introduced as multi-
|> > 	user systems first and the retrofitted to take advantage of
|> > 	Motorola workstation graphics products developed in 
|> > 	Fort Collins.
|> 
|> This is pretty misleading.  The idea to design a RISC-based
|> workstation, and the subsequent design and development of the 700
|> series, began within HP long before the acquisition.  The former
|> Apollo teams made their contributions in the latter stages of the
|> development, simply because we were pretty far along when the
|> acquisition occured.
|> 
|> > So, my point is the 7xx series has benefitted greatly from once
Apollo
|> > technical people, especially those involved in the PRISM
architecture,
|> > whatever their names are.
|> 
|> I agree with you completely.  I just wanted to clear up the above
|> misconception about the timing of it all, because it is so common.
------
Well, I think HP has created a good deal of these misconceptions; after
all,
these quotes are from HP spokesmen in a trade publication.  The same
article
also cites an HP announcement of a "'second generation' of RISC
workstations
that will support both HP-UX and Apollo's Domain/OS", which never
materialized,
along with the DN10000 processor upgrades.  Many long time Apollo
customers,
with considerable investment in their equipment, are not real happy
about HP's
recent trail of broken promises.  Some may yet migrate to other vendors,
rather
than reward duplicity, especially if the 'alpha' chip machines live up
to their
advance billing at an affordable price.
------
|> Will Walker (wlw@fc.hp.com)
|> my own opinions
------

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 Rick Venable                  |    "Eschew
 FDA/CBER Biophysics Lab       |   Obfuscation"  
 rvenable@helix.nih.gov        |         -- the Phantom Nerd   
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