On Fri, 8 Jun 2001, Douglas Quebbeman wrote:
> > The DN10000 accepted one to four Apollo PRISM CPUs. They were
> > not Motorola 88000-series CPUs.
>
> If it wasn't the DN10000, which model was it? I just got done
> downloading many megabytes worth of patches for 68k-based
> systems *and* for 88k-based systems from HP's web site.
The '88k' patches are for the DN10000, but because PRISM was known
internally as "A88k". It is not the same as m88k.
I've been doing some more research and have read an unsubstantiated rumour
that Apollo started out working on Intel with this, but parted ways before
the project came to fruition. Apollo continued its work, resulting in the
PRISM, while Intel contined theirs, resulting in the i860.
Here's a quote from an old USENET article, which appears to be written
from the perspective of someone who was there:
---
Apollo came up with the name "PRISM" only to discover that someone else
had it trademarked. There was a scramble for a new name. Someone latched
onto "Advanced Technology" AT, and the Motorola 88000 was coming at the
time. Barry Flahive or Jim Rees could probably tell you about the A88k
designation, as I don't recall why we did that.
---
Here's another quote which seems to concretely confirm this:
---
The DN10000 was not a clone of anything. The A88k designation was a
coincidence, recognized as unfortunate at some point, and thereafter
deemphasized. I happened to be talking to Russ Barbour today, and he
confirmed it.
---
ok
r.
Received on Fri Jun 08 2001 - 12:26:48 BST