[6] HP planned to use Spectrum to move all of their non-PC compatible machines to a single RISC CPU family.

In early 1982, work on the Precision Architecture began at HP Laboratories, defining the instruction set and virtual memory system.

The architects included Allen Baum, Hans Jeans, Michael J. Mahon, Ruby Bei-Loh Lee, Russel Kao, Steve Muchnick, Terrence C. Miller, David Fotland, and William S.

[12] They were first used in a new series of HP 3000 machines in the late 1980s – the 930 and 950, commonly known at the time as Spectrum systems, the name given to them in the development labs.

Other operating systems ported to the PA-RISC architecture include Linux, OpenBSD, NetBSD, OSF/1, NeXTSTEP, and ChorusOS.

Precision RISC Organization, an industry group led by HP, was founded in 1992, to promote the PA-RISC architecture.

Members included Convex, Hitachi, Hughes Aircraft, Mitsubishi, NEC, OKI, Prime, Stratus, Yokogawa, Red Brick Software, and Allegro Consultants, Inc.