It was an Apollo-designed processor.
Like the POWER, a multichip-setup. Known internally as the A88k (the DOMAIN distros were
suffixed A88k, also, so you could tell.)
The "Great Microprocessors" website
(
http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/jbayko/cpu5.html#Sec5Part2) has a small writeup on PRISM.
The big problem with the 10ks were that they were big, power-hungry, didn't support
much software (HP didn't even release some bugfixes reliably
for a88k), and the processor bus (X-bus) terminators tended to burn out.
No, I haven't used one, I thought about getting one a while ago and started getting
info. Haven't found one, though.
> No idea why they're so rare and forgotten
about
Apollo stuff in general seems to be getting into the "rare and forgotten about"
category now - strange considering their predominance during the '80s.
As the uncommon sibling of the forgotten family, with no major movie/book credits, the
DN10k is slipping into obscurity. Apollo should have open-documented their stuff.
Pity that the Alpha is now in the same boat- the race to mediocrity continues.