• Website and Posts: The JP's Website has a post about playing with HP PA-RISC. It contains details about different HP 9000 series machines, including the B132L+ and C3000 workstations, and the process of installing HP-UX.
• HP 9000 Series History: Introduced in 1984, the HP 9000 series used Motorola 68000 CPUs or HP's FOCUS architecture initially. Later, it used PA-RISC processors from 1986 to 2010. There were various models like the 800-series minicomputers, 700-series workstations, Visualize workstations (B-Class, C-Class, J-Class), and servers.
• HP Visualize B132L+ Workstation: A mid-range 1996 desktop workstation with 2D graphics. It has a 32-bit PA-RISC PA-7300LC processor, 128 KiB L1 Cache, 1 MiB L2 Cache, 128 MiB ECC SIMMs, Ultra-Wide SCSI and SCSI-2 buses, 10base-T Ethernet, 16-bit audio, GSC and PCI expansion, and Visualize-EG graphics. It came from Vodafone as a DNS and license server and has a missing EISA slot.
• HP Visualize C3000 Workstation: A high-end 1999 desktop workstation with 3D graphics. It has a 64-bit PA-RISC PA-8500 processor, 1 MiB L1 Cache, 2.5 GiB ECC SDRAM, Ultra2-Wide LVD SCSI bus, Ultra-SCSI Single-Ended bus, IDE CD-ROM, 100base-TX Ethernet, 16-bit audio, 64-bit/66 MHz PCI expansion, and Visualize FXPro5 3D graphics card. It was used by Virgin Media and has two 80-pin SCA hard drive bays.
• Installing HP-UX: Choose 32-bit HP-UX 10.20 for the B132L+ and 64-bit HP-UX 11.00 for the C3000. Boot from the Core OS or ACE disk, use SEA to search for devices, and install. HP-UX 11.00 sets up LVM. Later ACE disks have automatic OpenGL support. After installation, X11 needs a mouse, no nsswitch.conf by default, and use vi to edit. Only root user by default, make a regular user with sam. Mount CD-ROM manually. HP-UX only has sh, no up-arrow or tab-completion. The desktop has basic apps. Patches and apps can be installed from CD-ROMs or online.
• FAQ: It's good to buy an HP 9000 series workstation as it's cheaper than Silicon Graphics. Get a Visualize C3000 for 64-bit and snazzy case. Hard to find EVC to VGA adapters. The author is broke but owns two working PA-RISC workstations.