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81-399: The HP 3000 series is a family of 16-bit and 32-bit minicomputers from Hewlett-Packard . It was designed to be the first minicomputer with full support for time-sharing in the hardware and the operating system , features that had mostly been limited to mainframes , or retrofitted to existing systems like Digital's PDP-11 , on which Unix was implemented. First introduced in 1972,

162-419: A 32-bit computer with up to 4 MB of main memory shared among up to four central processing units (CPUs). The CPUs were designed to be programmed in a high level language , like the successful models from Burroughs that were programmed in a custom systems programming language rather than assembler . Support for multiprogramming and memory protection would be built in. As development continued,

243-437: A VMWare package. 16-bit computing A 16-bit register can store 2 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 65,535 (2 − 1) for representation as an ( unsigned ) binary number , and −32,768 (−1 × 2 ) through 32,767 (2 − 1) for representation as two's complement . Since 2

324-455: A general-purpose register model. The processor and memory architecture of the classic HP 3000 were based on a stack machine model, like HP's well-known line of RPN calculators. It was said to be inspired by the famous stack-based Burroughs large systems . Rather than having a small number of registers, for example only an AX and BX register in the case of the HP 1000 , operands would be pushed on

405-459: A processor , memory , and other major system components that operate on data in 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculations more efficiently and process more data per clock cycle. Typical 32-bit personal computers also have a 32-bit address bus , permitting up to 4 GB of RAM to be accessed, far more than previous generations of system architecture allowed. 32-bit designs have been used since

486-439: A 16-bit external bus and 24-bit addressing of the processor it replaced. In the context of IBM PC compatible and Wintel platforms, a 16-bit application is any software written for MS-DOS , OS/2 1.x or early versions of Microsoft Windows which originally ran on the 16-bit Intel 8088 and Intel 80286 microprocessors . Such applications used a 20- bit or 24-bit segment or selector-offset address representation to extend

567-489: A code segment, but calling a routine was based on segment number and routine number within a segment, so a program could theoretically have about 32,385 routines. With 8 bits to specify segment, and 16 bits within a segment a program could have effectively have a 24 bit address or 16MB. This was compared to most 16 bit computers like the PDP-11 or IBM System/34 that had 64KB of address space for code and data. The bigger limitation

648-453: A deal. They later found a small company, DSI, working for Union Carbide , that had essentially "stretched" DEC's PDP-8 from 12 to 16-bits. HP purchased DSI and merged it into its Dymec division. The DSI design became the basis for the HP 2100 , introduced in 1966, initially marketed as a "test and instrumentation computer". To their surprise, HP found that the machine was selling well in the business market and other non-lab uses. This led to

729-519: A fashion similar to modern microcomputers , used by a single user, and often dedicated to a single particular task like operating machinery. This was true for many contemporary designs like the PDP-8 and Data General Nova . It was the HP 2000's ability to perform timesharing that made it a success in a market filled with otherwise similar machines. The ability to support multiple users running different programs

810-650: A few locations. HP 3000 and many HP 9000 machines used the HP Precision Bus . The PA-RISC based HP 3000's operating system was written primarily in Modcal, HP's extended version of Pascal . Large portions of the earlier MPE V operating system, written in SPL, are still used as part of MPE XL and MPE/iX on PA-RISC. A few subsystems (e.g., TurboIMAGE) are written in PSPL (Portable SPL). A small portion of MPE XL and MPE/iX

891-399: A memo to everyone on the team, today known simply as the "Wow Ouch memo". Ed McCracken went back to the customers and told them point-blank that the machines would not be available until the fall of 1973, and that the machines would only support four to six users. Some accepted the offer of an HP 2000 in place of their orders, while others broke down and cried. One customer threatened to sue

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972-400: A series of updated versions with better input/output to handle business workflows while removing some of the expansion capability needed only in the lab setting. The much smaller 2114 was particularly popular in non-lab settings. All of the 211x models were later updated to use semiconductor memory instead of core memory , leading to the 2100 line of 1971. In 1968, the line was expanded with

1053-483: A three-level hierarchical file system, and utilities such as compilers would resemble "run fortran.pub.sys" rather than allowing programs to be run as keyword commands. Later the systems gained a wide range of languages including COBOL and FORTRAN , Pascal, C , and even a version of RPG to assist in winning business away from IBM . People who used the HP 3000 noticed from the 1970s onward that machines were more reliable compared to other mainframe and minicomputers of

1134-413: A total of 96 bits per pixel. 32-bit-per-channel images are used to represent values brighter than what sRGB color space allows (brighter than white); these values can then be used to more accurately retain bright highlights when either lowering the exposure of the image or when it is seen through a dark filter or dull reflection. For example, a reflection in an oil slick is only a fraction of that seen in

1215-451: Is 65,536, a processor with 16-bit memory addresses can directly access 64 KB (65,536 bytes) of byte-addressable memory. If a system uses segmentation with 16-bit segment offsets, more can be accessed. The MIT Whirlwind ( c. 1951) was quite possibly the first-ever 16-bit computer. It was an unusual word size for the era; most systems used six-bit character code and used a word length of some multiple of 6-bits. This changed with

1296-402: Is a 32-bit machine, with 32-bit registers and instructions that manipulate 32-bit quantities, but the external address bus is 36 bits wide, giving a larger address space than 4 GB, and the external data bus is 64 bits wide, primarily in order to permit a more efficient prefetch of instructions and data. Prominent 32-bit instruction set architectures used in general-purpose computing include

1377-535: Is written in PA-RISC assembly language. The 3000 series operating system was originally styled the Multi-Programming Executive , MPE (later called MPE XL and then, after POSIX compliance was added in versions 5.0-5.5, MPE/iX). The earliest versions of the system used only HP's proprietary SPL systems programming language and BASIC . These System 3000s used a command-line interpreter , with

1458-606: The 8088/8086 or 80286 , 16-bit microprocessors with a segmented address space where programs had to switch between segments to reach more than 64 kilobytes of code or data. As this is quite time-consuming in comparison to other machine operations, the performance may suffer. Furthermore, programming with segments tend to become complicated; special far and near keywords or memory models had to be used (with care), not only in assembly language but also in high level languages such as Pascal , compiled BASIC , Fortran , C , etc. The 80386 and its successors fully support

1539-686: The HP BPC . Other notable 16-bit processors include the Intel 8086 , the Intel 80286 , the WDC 65C816 , and the Zilog Z8000 . The Intel 8088 was binary compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16 bits wide, and arithmetic instructions could operate on 16-bit quantities, even though its external bus was 8 bits wide. 16-bit processors have been almost entirely supplanted in

1620-824: The IBM System/360 , IBM System/370 (which had 24-bit addressing), System/370-XA , ESA/370 , and ESA/390 (which had 31-bit addressing), the DEC VAX , the NS320xx , the Motorola 68000 family (the first two models of which had 24-bit addressing), the Intel IA-32 32-bit version of the x86 architecture, and the 32-bit versions of the ARM , SPARC , MIPS , PowerPC and PA-RISC architectures. 32-bit instruction set architectures used for embedded computing include

1701-551: The IBM System/360 Model 30 had an 8-bit ALU, 8-bit internal data paths, and an 8-bit path to memory, and the original Motorola 68000 had a 16-bit data ALU and a 16-bit external data bus, but had 32-bit registers and a 32-bit oriented instruction set. The 68000 design was sometimes referred to as 16/32-bit . However, the opposite is often true for newer 32-bit designs. For example, the Pentium Pro processor

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1782-429: The instruction set . The standard terminals for the HP 3000 were the HP 2640 series, which supported block mode data entry from forms (like IBM's mainframe-based CICS ), as well as character mode. By the 1980s the computer had gained the ability to use both PCs and Macs as system terminals. The HP 3000 family's generations were divided into the "Classic" ( 16-bit ) and then "XL" (later IX – 32-bit ) families following

1863-448: The integer representation used. With the two most common representations, the range is 0 through 4,294,967,295 (2 − 1) for representation as an ( unsigned ) binary number , and −2,147,483,648 (−2 ) through 2,147,483,647 (2 − 1) for representation as two's complement . One important consequence is that a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access at most 4  GiB of byte-addressable memory (though in practice

1944-471: The personal computer industry, and are used less than 32-bit (or 8-bit) CPUs in embedded applications. The Motorola 68000 is sometimes called 16-bit because of the way it handles basic arithmetic. The instruction set was based on 32-bit numbers and the internal registers were 32 bits wide, so by common definitions, the 68000 is a 32-bit design. Internally, 32-bit arithmetic is performed using two 16-bit operations, and this leads to some descriptions of

2025-477: The "Alpha" was essentially an HP 2100 built using newer components and improved memory handling, while "Omega" was a much larger 32-bit design that would support large numbers of users. Initially, the two systems were to be released at about the same time. However, almost all development took place within Omega, and few, if any, engineers were active on Alpha during 1969. In contrast to the 16-bit Alpha, Omega would be

2106-533: The 16-bit segments of the 80286 but also segments for 32-bit address offsets (using the new 32-bit width of the main registers). If the base address of all 32-bit segments is set to 0, and segment registers are not used explicitly, the segmentation can be forgotten and the processor appears as having a simple linear 32-bit address space. Operating systems like Windows or OS/2 provide the possibility to run 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility exists for backward compatibility and

2187-475: The 1970s fall into this category; the MOS 6502 , Intel 8080 , Zilog Z80 and most others had 16-bit address space which provided 64 KB of address space. This also meant address manipulation required two instruction cycles. For this reason, most processors had special 8-bit addressing modes, the zero page , improving speed. This sort of difference between internal register size and external address size remained in

2268-488: The 1980s, although often reversed, as memory costs of the era made a machine with 32-bit addressing, 2 or 4 GB, a practical impossibility. For example, the 68000 exposed only 24 bits of addressing on the DIP , limiting it to a still huge (for the era) 16 MB. A similar analysis applies to Intel's 80286 CPU replacement, called the 386SX , which is a 32-bit processor with 32-bit ALU and internal 32-bit data paths with

2349-418: The 3000's MPE/iX operating system are maintained in a website by Applied Technologies. The HP 3000 has enjoyed one of the longest lifetimes for any business computer system. These enterprise-grade computers have outlasted the highly regarded PDP-11 and VAX series, although OpenVMS operating system is still being offered on Alpha , IA-64 , and x86-64 based systems. In January 2012, Stromasys announced

2430-423: The 68000 family and ColdFire , x86, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and Infineon TriCore architectures. On the x86 architecture , a 32-bit application normally means software that typically (not necessarily) uses the 32-bit linear address space (or flat memory model ) possible with the 80386 and later chips. In this context, the term came about because DOS , Microsoft Windows and OS/2 were originally written for

2511-576: The CX release, HP shipped IMAGE , a $ 10,000 database system written to the CODASYL standards. This was later bundled with the systems for free. IMAGE is the primary reason the HP 3000 eventually became a success. Early 3000 models had large cabinets with front panels, while later models were made that fit into desks using only terminal consoles for diagnostics, with bootstrap routines in ROM. By 1984 HP introduced

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2592-407: The HP 2000, a series of machines that were made up of collections of parts from the HP 211x lines, with most systems using a low-end 2114 CPU as a terminal controller and high-end CPU like the 2116 as the main processor. The systems ran HP Time-Shared BASIC and could support between 16 and 32 users simultaneously depending on the model. The machines were an immediate success, quickly becoming one of

2673-452: The HP 3000 continued through December 31, 2010. Many third party firms continue to support the system for customers throughout the world. Some customers continue to use the HP 3000 in companies worldwide, especially in manufacturing and e-commerce industries, while others have migrated to business server systems made by HP and others. For those unable or unwilling to migrate, a homesteading strategy emerged immediately after HP's announcement of

2754-522: The HP 3000 would wrap up at the end of 2006, and that no new systems would be sold by HP after 2003. In early 2006, Hewlett-Packard announced that limited vendor support for the HP 3000 would be extended by two years for certain clients or geographic regions. In September 2007, HP once more extended its support for the systems, offering Mature Product Support without Sustaining Engineering (ending its creation of software patches). Some patches had been built and tested inside HP, but lacked customer base testing by

2835-519: The HP3000 Series 37, the first model that ran in offices without special cooling or flooring requirements. Models ranged from a system sometimes used by a single user, to models that supported over 2,000 users. The HP 3000 was one of the last proprietary minicomputer systems whose manufacture was curtailed by its vendor, outlasting the PDP-11 -descended Digital Equipment Corporation VAX , which

2916-580: The HPA/3000. The key development that led to the tremendous success of the HP 3000 was the bundling of the HP-developed network database management system ( DBMS ) called IMAGE (now called TurboIMAGE /SQL) that was reputedly inspired by the TOTAL DBMS developed by Cincom Systems, Inc. IMAGE was an award-winning database anointed by Datamation within two years of the database's introduction. It

2997-495: The best-selling systems in the timesharing market, and propelling HP to become the 3rd largest minicomputer vendor. As the success of the HP 2000 series became clear, in 1969 the designers in Cupertino Lab decided to begin the development of machines dedicated to the office role, as opposed to the HP 2000, which was made up of various bits and pieces never originally designed for the task. Two basic systems were outlined,

3078-474: The caller. A process could allocate and use multiple extra data segments (XDS) of up to 64KB each. While the Classic architecture imposed a limit of 65,535 extra data segments system-wide, other limitations would usually restrict that to a somewhat smaller limit. Systems programming was done in SPL (System Programming Language), an ALGOL -like language, but allowing inline assembler, and other direct access to

3159-458: The changes implemented, Jim Peachy was hired to do performance testing on the system. Peachy had previously worked on the first timesharing systems at Dartmouth College , and had since worked at General Electric and Memorex . After only three days he pronounced that there was "absolutely no way" the machine would meet the performance requirements being quoted by sales. As a result of the MPE delays,

3240-407: The company $ 20 million. The problems were not going unnoticed and ultimately ended up with Bill Hewlett . Hewlett asked Barney Oliver to take over the division, but he refused, and Paul Ely was sent instead in his place. Ely quickly ended production of the machines and, in a move still mentioned in historical works to this day, recalled all of the machines that had been shipped out. Dave Packard sent

3321-413: The company, but were put off by the personal intervention of Hewlett who stated he would do everything in his power to fix the problems. The system then entered a six-month period of redevelopment of both MPE and the hardware. MPE emerged as MPE-8, officially ending real-time support. The hardware improved to run about 30% faster than the original model and was priced 20% less. As a result of these changes,

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3402-577: The computer as the System/3000, and then called it the HP 3000. The HP 3000 originally used a 16-bit CISC stack machine processor architecture, first implemented with Transistor-transistor logic , and later with Silicon on Sapphire chips beginning with the Series 33 in 1979. In the early 1980s, HP began development of a new RISC processor, which emerged as the PA-RISC platform. The HP 3000 CPU

3483-576: The computer the HP e3000 to emphasize the system's compatibility with internet and web uses. HP initially announced the systems would be designated to be at end-of-life at HP in 2006, but extended that several times to 2010. The systems are no longer built or supported by the manufacturer, although independent companies support the systems. While looking for a computer system to control ever-more-complex test equipment, HP briefly considered buying Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). They were ultimately unimpressed with Ken Olsen 's demands and did not attempt

3564-486: The development of Charon/HPA-3000, which enables secure transfer of HP3000 systems to a state-of-the-art environment. Stromasys's solution virtualizes the hardware of an existing HP3000 system, and enables the MPE/iX operating system, third-party applications, and user-developed software to run without any modification whatsoever, on industry-standard Intel servers. Their offering includes a two-user evaluation copy delivered in

3645-490: The earliest days of electronic computing, in experimental systems and then in large mainframe and minicomputer systems. The first hybrid 16/32-bit microprocessor , the Motorola 68000 , was introduced in the late 1970s and used in systems such as the original Apple Macintosh . Fully 32-bit microprocessors such as the HP FOCUS , Motorola 68020 and Intel 80386 were launched in the early to mid 1980s and became dominant by

3726-722: The early 1990s. This generation of personal computers coincided with and enabled the first mass-adoption of the World Wide Web . While 32-bit architectures are still widely-used in specific applications, the PC and server market has moved on to 64 bits with x86-64 and other 64-bit architectures since the mid-2000s with installed memory often exceeding the 32-bit 4G RAM address limits on entry level computers. The latest generation of smartphones have also switched to 64 bits. A 32-bit register can store 2 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits depends on

3807-645: The effort to introduce ASCII , which used a 7-bit code and naturally led to the use of an 8-bit multiple which could store a single ASCII character or two binary coded decimal digits. The 16-bit word length thus became more common in the 1960s, especially on minicomputer systems. Early 16-bit computers ( c. 1965–70) include the IBM 1130 , the HP 2100 , the Data General Nova , and the DEC PDP-11 . Early 16-bit microprocessors , often modeled on one of

3888-422: The end of 2008. HP made these patches available after the end of 2010. By 2011, HP had extended a special provision to 3000 customers that granted them free access to patches, unlike the rest of HP enterprise line, which was forced in 2010 to adopt a "pay for patching" support program instead of free patches. A group of independent vendors has assumed systems and software support for existing customers who have left

3969-474: The end of system sales. In 2012, the Stromasys company released a product doing full HP3000 hardware emulation on x86-64 servers running Red Hat Linux or CentOS . That product operates as a virtualized instance of the HP 3000 server hardware. Starting in 2003, HP began a plan to sell a license for the 3000's operating system, which can let 3000 customers run their software on this Stromasys product, known as

4050-574: The first decades of 32-bit architectures (the 1960s to the 1980s). Older 32-bit processor families (or simpler, cheaper variants thereof) could therefore have many compromises and limitations in order to cut costs. This could be a 16-bit ALU , for instance, or external (or internal) buses narrower than 32 bits, limiting memory size or demanding more cycles for instruction fetch, execution or write back. Despite this, such processors could be labeled 32-bit , since they still had 32-bit registers and instructions able to manipulate 32-bit quantities. For example,

4131-618: The introduction of systems based on HP's PA-RISC chips for 3000s in early 1987. These newer XL systems were not binary compatible with the Classics, but would transparently run Classic code via an emulator, one that HP integrated into the MPE XL operating system. (Classic code could optionally be translated to native PA-RISC code via OCTCOMP, the Object Code Translator/COMPiler ... such code ran at native speed, but

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4212-545: The lab." Engineers continued to provide performance estimates to marketing, which would pass these along to customers, even though the engineers were aware they were inaccurate. Increasing concern among upper management led to the May 1972 formation of the Systems Management Group, who would work within the engineering labs as an internal marketing team and drive the development according to customer needs. Among

4293-453: The last models reached end-of-life in 2010, making it among the longest-lived machines of its generation. The original HP 3000 hardware was withdrawn from the market in 1973 to address performance problems and OS stability. After reintroduction in 1974, it went on to become a reliable and powerful business system, one that regularly won HP business from companies that had been using IBM 's mainframes. Hewlett-Packard's initial naming referred to

4374-412: The latter is usually meant to be used for new software development . In digital images/pictures, 32-bit usually refers to RGBA color space ; that is, 24-bit truecolor images with an additional 8-bit alpha channel . Other image formats also specify 32 bits per pixel, such as RGBE . In digital images, 32-bit sometimes refers to high-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) formats that use 32 bits per channel,

4455-468: The limit may be lower). The world's first stored-program electronic computer , the Manchester Baby , used a 32-bit architecture in 1948, although it was only a proof of concept and had little practical capacity. It held only 32 32-bit words of RAM on a Williams tube , and had no addition operation, only subtraction. Memory, as well as other digital circuits and wiring, was expensive during

4536-421: The main operating system to be greatly simplified, simply loading up user programs as they appear from the front-end, running them in a round-robin fashion with other users' programs, and then delivering the results. In most respects, this was a batch processing system, much of the complexity of multi-user support was isolated in the separate front-end processor. As development re-started on Alpha, this concept

4617-572: The mini platforms, began to appear in the 1970s. Examples ( c. 1973–76) include the five-chip National Semiconductor IMP-16 (1973), the two-chip NEC μCOM-16 (1974), the three-chip Western Digital MCP-1600 (1975), and the five-chip Toshiba T-3412 (1976). Early single-chip 16-bit microprocessors ( c. 1975–76) include the Panafacom MN1610 (1975), National Semiconductor PACE (1975), General Instrument CP1600 (1975), Texas Instruments TMS9900 (1976), Ferranti F100-L , and

4698-457: The new system was able to run eight users. Shipping re-started in November, a year after the original date. After another year, an updated version shipped. This new "CX" model replaced core memory with semiconductor memory and replaced the wire wrapped CPU boards with surface mounted components. MPE-C added COBOL and RPG languages, perhaps the first mini to offer the former. As part of

4779-540: The operating system team came together to describe their section of the system, they found that it was too large to fit in memory, let alone have room for user programs. To make it fit, the programmers began a marathon effort to shrink the system requirements. The system was announced at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in November 1971. By early 1972 the system was up and running with three prototype machines completed. However, MPE development

4860-623: The plan to continue the development of Alpha was presented, George Newman, who replaced Perkins as the General Manager of the computer division, was concerned that the team was once again designing a machine that could not be delivered. Management was eventually convinced of the merits of the design, and the External Reference Specifications were published in July 1970. Prior minicomputers were generally used in

4941-474: The project appeared to be too large for HP to complete using internal funding. This would require the company to take on external debt, which management considered too risky. In the fall of 1970, Tom Perkins was promoted to Corporate Development and decided to cancel the Omega project. This resulted in several employees wearing black-velvet armbands to mourn the death of the project, and some dismay over being reassigned to "just another 16-bit machine." By this time

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5022-434: The range of addressable memory locations beyond what was possible using only 16-bit addresses. Programs containing more than 2 bytes (65,536 bytes ) of instructions and data therefore required special instructions to switch between their 64-kilobyte segments , increasing the complexity of programming 16-bit applications. 32-bit computer In computer architecture , 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with

5103-507: The ranks of HP's 3000 support business. Several have pledged to continue support for their own software until customers stop using the server. Others, offering comprehensive support, are citing 2016 and later as their end of support dates. A consultants directory is maintained by Robelle Software, and other independent consultants are available through a listing at the OpenMPE website. Open source software resources, including commodity tools, for

5184-404: The remaining few are 32 bits wide. CISC Implementations Later 32-bit models used HP's PA-RISC general register-based RISC architecture. PA-RISC Implementations After the enterprise computing market shifted toward commodity Unix systems from a wide range of vendors—systems that HP had also been promoting—in November 2001 Hewlett-Packard announced that a period it called the end-of-life for

5265-429: The same stack used to store local variables and return addresses . So rather than you would have The 16-bit microcoded machines (Series I, II, III, 30, 33, 39, 40, 42, 44, 48, 52, 58, 64, 68, 70, 37, ...) implement a 16-bit word addressed , byte-addressable , segmented, Harvard , Stack Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). Most of the ~214 instructions are 16 bits wide. Stack operations pack 2 per 16-bit word and

5346-636: The ship date was pushed back from August to November 1972, and MPE was reduced solely to timesharing support, with additional features slated to arrive through 1973. The November date was held firm, and eventually, someone put up posters claiming "November is a happening", referring to the contemporary " happening " movement in performance art . The first machine was shipped to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley on November 1, although as one engineer, Frank Hublou, noted, "they should have put it on

5427-449: The small amount of development on Alpha had changed the nature of the project significantly. Originally conceived as an updated HP 2100, it had become essentially a small Omega, adopting its virtual memory and stack machine design that supported high level languages, but limited to a 16-bit design with a maximum of 64 kWord main memory (128 kB), only a single accumulator , and lacking Omega's powerful input/output systems. When

5508-470: The system as 16-bit, or "16/32". Such solutions have a long history in the computer field, with various designs performing math even one bit at a time, known as "serial arithmetic", while most designs by the 1970s processed at least a few bits at a time. A common example is the Data General Nova, which was a 16-bit design that performed 16-bit math as a series of four 4-bit operations. 4-bits was

5589-472: The time. The ability to recover from power failures - automatically and seamlessly when power was restored - was a notable feature that sold many systems versus IBM computers. At times the HP 3000 suffered from peripheral support delays or gaps caused by HP's decision to delay supporting, or not support at all, some peripherals on the HP 3000 platform—some of which were supported on the identical HP 9000 hardware. Most current computer instruction sets are based on

5670-419: The truck, drove it around the block, and brought the machine back." After setup, it was found the machine would only support one or two users before slowing to a crawl, and it crashed every 10 to 20 minutes. Hublou's statement came true when the machine was "immediately returned." In a training session that December, a new version of MPE was able to run four users and crashed only once every two hours. The system

5751-537: The word size of a widely available single-chip ALU and thus allowed for inexpensive implementation. Using the definition being applied to the 68000, the Nova would be a 4-bit computer, or 4/16. Not long after the introduction of the Nova, a second version was introduced, the SuperNova, which included four of the 4-bit ALUs running in parallel to perform math 16 bits at a time and therefore offer higher performance. This

5832-410: Was acquired by Compaq and then ultimately by Hewlett-Packard . After almost 30 years, a five-year phase-out period for the now-named HP e3000 series servers was originally announced in November 2001. HP then extended this phase-out period twice. No more new e3000s are being sold by HP, although used systems continue to be sold for upgrades on a third-party reseller market. Support from HP to customers for

5913-451: Was by this time far behind schedule. This led to a February 1972 memo outlining the development schedule with various features being delivered over time. Ultimately the realtime support was dropped, and none of the dates on the memo were met. Meanwhile, a turf war had broken out between the engineering lab and the marketing department, who were actively trying to sell the system. It got to the point where "People from marketing were banned from

5994-470: Was continually patched to keep it running as new bugs were found. Machines continued to be shipped, both to customers as well as companies that were considering purchases. These invariably ended poorly, unable to support more than four users. The schedule for MPE features continued to be pushed back, and the estimated number of machine sales continued to be reduced. By this time, the development of an HP 2000 replacement had been underway for 5 years and had cost

6075-408: Was invisible to the user and the programs, which always used 16-bit instructions and data. In a similar fashion, later 68000-family members, starting with the Motorola 68020 , had 32-bit ALUs. One may also see references to systems being, or not being, 16-bit based on some other measure. One common one is when the address space is not the same size of bits as the internal registers. Most 8-bit CPUs of

6156-463: Was previously limited to mainframe computers, and a further expansion of this capability was a key design concept for the original Omega. When Alpha emerged as an Omega-like design, it initially followed the same model of multi-user support, which was in turn based on the HP 2000 concept. In this model, the main CPU does not handle user interaction, which is the task of the front-end processor. This allows

6237-417: Was re-examined and the decision was made to expand the operating system to support multiprogramming directly. This resulted in the system becoming three-in-one, with the main portion being dedicated to timesharing but also offering real-time support and batch mode. The resulting system, ultimately known as Multi-Programming Executive (MPE), would be among the most advanced of its era. When the ten groups within

6318-525: Was reimplemented as an emulator running on PA-RISC and a recompiled version of the MPE operating system . The RISC-based systems were known as the "XL" versions, while the earlier CISC models retroactively became the "Classic" series. The two sold in tandem for a short period, but the XL series largely took over in 1988. Identical machines running HP-UX instead of MPE XL were known as the HP 9000 . HP later renamed

6399-468: Was still subject to Classic stack and memory size limitations). The earlier "Classic" machines were based on a custom CISC processor. From about 1988 onward, HP 3000s using PA-RISC processors began shipping in volume. By 1995 these PA-RISC systems effectively displaced the older family of machines from use. As with all technology shifts, there remained a significant residue of older machines in service. Even today, original Classic 3000s work in production in

6480-423: Was the data segment and stack segment, which were also 64KB. Shared library routines did not permit cross-process global data since each process had its own data segment. Some procedures worked around this by requiring the caller to pass in an array from their own stack or data segment to hold all state information, similar to modern object-oriented languages where methods are applied to objects passed and allocated by

6561-627: Was the first database management system included with a business-class minicomputer. By bundling IMAGE with the server, HP created an ecosystem of applications and development utilities that could rely upon IMAGE as a data repository in any HP 3000. Code ( reentrant ) and data reside in separate variable-length segments, which are 32,768 "halfwords" (16-bit words) (or, 65,536 bytes). The operating system, known as MPE (for Multi-Programming Executive), loads code segments from program files and segmented Library (SL) files as needed, up to 256 segments in one process. There could be as much as 64KB of memory in

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