Apollo/Domain was a range of
workstationA workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s developed and produced by
Apollo ComputerApollo Computer, Inc., founded 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts by William Poduska and others, developed and produced Apollo/Domain workstations in the 1980s. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo was one of the first vendors of graphical workstations in the 1980s...
from circa 1980 to 1989. The machines were built around the Motorola 68k family of processors, except for the DN10000, which had from one to four of Apollo's RISC processors, named
PRISMPRISM was Apollo Computer's high-performance CPU used in their DN10000 series workstations. It was for some time the fastest single-chip CPU available, a high fraction of a Cray-I in workstation...
.
Operating system
The original
operating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
was Apollo's own product called Aegis, which was later renamed to
Domain/OSDomain/OS is the operating system used by the Apollo/Domain line of workstations manufactured by Apollo Computer, Inc. during the late 1980s, as the successor to the one previously used, AEGIS. It was one of the early distributed operating systems...
. The Aegis and Domain/OS system offered advanced features for the time, for example an object oriented filesystem, network transparency, diskless booting, a
graphical user interfaceIn computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
and in Domain/OS, interoperability with
BSDBerkeley Software Distribution is a Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995...
,
System VUnix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV , is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by American Telephone & Telegraph and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, termed Releases 1, 2, 3 and 4...
and
POSIXPOSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...
.
Hardware
An Apollo workstation resembled a modern PC, with base unit, keyboard, mouse, and screen. Early models were housed in short (about 2ft high) 19" rack cabinets that would be set beside a desk or under a table. The DN300 and later DN330 were designed as integrated units with system and monitor in one unit and fit easily on a desk. Every Apollo system (even standalones) had to include at least one network interface. Originally the only option was the 12 Mbit/s Apollo Token Ring (ATR). Over time, 10 Mbit/s
EthernetEthernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
was added as an option. It has been stated that the IBM Token Ring was an option - this was never available. The ATR was generally the best choice, since it was extremely scalable; whilst the Ethernet of the time suffered serious performance loss as extra machines were added to the network, this was not true of ATR, which could easily have over a hundred machines on one network. One drawback was that, unlike Ethernet, one machine failure (which could easily happen given a single faulty connector) stopped the entire network. For this reason, Apollo provided an optional (but strongly recommended) network cabling system of bypass switches and quick connect boxes which allowed machines to be disconnected and moved without problems. Apollo Token Ring networks used 75 ohm RG-6U coaxial cabling.
Networking
The network orientation of the systems, together with the ATR functionality, made it easy and practicable to boot and run diskless machines using another machine's OS. In principle, as many machines could be booted from one host as it could cope with; in practice, four diskless machines from one host was about the limit. Provided the correct machine-specific software was installed on the host (again, very easy), any type of machine could be booted from any other (one complication being that a DN10000 could only be booted from another DN10000 or a 68K-based system which had "compexe" executables installed).
Some systems could have the graphics card removed so that they could be used as a servers; in such a case the keyboard and mouse were automatically ignored, and the system accessed either across the network, or via a dumb terminal plugged into the machine's serial port. Such a system was designated "DSP" instead of "DN".
Models
The model naming convention was DN (for Domain Node) with a model number. If the system had no display, it was a DSP (for Domain Service Processor).
The first model was the DN416 workstation, later referred to as the DN100 after the green screen was substituted with a black and white screen. This system used two 68000 processors and implemented virtual memory (which the 68000 wasn't theoretically capable of) by stopping one processor when there was a page fault and having the other processor handle the fault, then release the primary processor when the page fault was handled.
Later models were based on
68010The Motorola MC68010 processor is a 16/32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1982. In line with the Motorola 68000 naming convention, it is usually just referred to as the 010 ....
,
68020The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. It is the successor to the Motorola 68010 and is succeeded by the Motorola 68030...
,
68030The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
and
68040The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 ....
processors which had native support for virtual memory. Some workstations had bit-slice CPU implementations that were instruction set compatible with the 68000.
The DSP90 was a fileserver built using a standard
MultibusMultibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus.The Multibus specification was important because it was a robust, well-thought out industry standard with a relatively large form factor so complex devices could...
backplane and I/O controllers. The disk controller could support up to four (4) 500MB hard drives. A 9-track tape controller was also available.
Early performance models were the DN560 and DN660 which were housed in desk-side cabinets. These would commonly have color graphics cards with graphics acclerators.
The DN300 and later DN330 were integrated desktop systems not much bigger than the included monitor.
In the late 1980s, Apollo introduced a revolutionary new pair of machines. The DN3000 and DN4000 used 68k processors, but were housed in IBM PC style cases of the time and had IBM-AT compatible ISA expansion slots and PC-compatible disk drives. These became the mainstay of the Apollo range in the mid to late 1980s. In principle, a user or third party could install a standard AT expansion card, but since this required the writing of a special device driver, in practice this was very rare. However, the size and design of the boxes made installing or replacing components very easy. A typical system could have between 2
MiBThe mebibyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The binary prefix mebi means 220, therefore 1 mebibyte is . The unit symbol for the mebibyte is MiB. The unit was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 2000 and has been accepted for use by all major...
and 32 MiB of memory, a 76 MB, 150 MB or 330 MB (very occasionally 660 MB)
hard diskA hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
, and 32-bit
68020The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. It is the successor to the Motorola 68010 and is succeeded by the Motorola 68030...
or
68030The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
processor running at 12 MHz to 33 MHz, depending on model. A half-height expansion bay could take either a 5ΒΌ-inch
floppy diskA floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drive or a
QICQuarter inch cartridge tape is a magnetic tape data storage format introduced by 3M in 1972, with derivatives still in use as of 2009. QIC comes in a rugged enclosed package of aluminum and plastic that holds two tape reels driven by a single belt in direct contact with the tape. The tape was...
-type cartridge tape drive, capacity 30 MB, 45 MB, or 60 MB depending on cartridge. For printer access, the system came with a
serial portIn computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
as standard; a serial/parallel expansion card could provide a parallel printer port if this was required.
The DN3000 and DN4000 were later upgraded to DN3500 and DN4500 with a faster
68030The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
CPU. The DN3500 was approximately as powerful as the DN4000. A DN5500 with a
68040The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 ....
was also produced in limited quantities.
A DN2500 workstation was released which was advertised as "4 Mips, 4 MB of memory, for under $4,000". This was a single integrated motherboard that used PC standard DRAM DIMM modules. This was a significant departure from previous designs and those of the competition which had custom memory modules. The motherboard included a high resolution (1280x1024) black and white bitmapped display and SCSI disk interface. The systems included a single AT expansion slot for a network card to allow the system to attach to any of the three supported networks (Apollo Token Ring, IBM Token Ring, or Ethernet)
After the purchase of
Apollo ComputerApollo Computer, Inc., founded 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts by William Poduska and others, developed and produced Apollo/Domain workstations in the 1980s. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo was one of the first vendors of graphical workstations in the 1980s...
by HP, a merged line of workstations that could run either Domain/OS or HP-UX was produced with the name HP/Apollo 425t and HP/Apollo 433s. The 425t was a "pizza box" design with a single network expansion slot. The 433s was a desk-side server systems with multiple expansion slots.
Compatibility
PC compatibility was possible either through software
emulationIn computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
, using the optional product DPCE, or through a plug-in card carrying an
Intel 80286The Intel 80286 , introduced on 1 February 1982, was a 16-bit x86 microprocessor with 134,000 transistors. Like its contemporary simpler cousin, the 80186, it could correctly execute most software written for the earlier Intel 8086 and 8088...
processor. A third-party plug-in card with a
386The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...
was also available.
An Apollo Token Ring network card could also be placed in a standard PC and network drivers allowed it to connect to a server running a PC SMB (Server Message Block) file server.
Usage
Although Apollo systems were easy to use and administer, they became less cost-effective because the proprietary operating system made software more expensive than Unix software. The 68K processors were slower than the new RISC chips from
SunSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and Hewlett-Packard. Apollo addressed both problems by introducing the RISC-based DN10000 and Unix-friendly
Domain/OSDomain/OS is the operating system used by the Apollo/Domain line of workstations manufactured by Apollo Computer, Inc. during the late 1980s, as the successor to the one previously used, AEGIS. It was one of the early distributed operating systems...
operating system. However, the DN10000, though fast, was extremely expensive, and a reliable version of
Domain/OSDomain/OS is the operating system used by the Apollo/Domain line of workstations manufactured by Apollo Computer, Inc. during the late 1980s, as the successor to the one previously used, AEGIS. It was one of the early distributed operating systems...
came too late to make a difference. The increased speed and falling price of PCs ensured the obsolescence of high end system such as Apollo workstations.
Acquisition
In 1989
Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
acquired Apollo. They later released the DN2500 series workstation, a cheap alternative to the DN3x00/4x00 series, and later still the
HP 9000HP 9000 is the name for a line of workstation and server computer systems produced by the Hewlett-Packard Company . The native operating system for almost all HP 9000 systems is HP-UX, a derivative of Unix. The HP 9000 brand was introduced in 1984 to encompass several existing technical...
Series 400 line, which could run either HP's own flavor of
UnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
,
HP-UXHP-UX is Hewlett-Packard's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on UNIX System V and first released in 1984...
, or
Domain/OSDomain/OS is the operating system used by the Apollo/Domain line of workstations manufactured by Apollo Computer, Inc. during the late 1980s, as the successor to the one previously used, AEGIS. It was one of the early distributed operating systems...
. In this case, the choice had to be made at time of purchase, partly because HP-UX and Domain/OS functionality required different keyboards and mice.