1970s era IBM minicomputer
IBM Series/1
|
IBM Series/1, 1978
|
Manufacturer
| IBM
|
---|
Introduced
| November 16, 1976
; 47 years ago
(
1976-11-16
)
|
---|
Discontinued
| 1988
|
---|
Cost
| $10,000?$100,000
|
---|
Type
| 16-bit
|
---|
Frequency
| 660?800 ns
|
---|
Memory
| 16?128 KB
|
---|
The
IBM Series/1
is a
16-bit
minicomputer
, introduced in 1976, that in many respects competed with other minicomputers of the time, such as the
PDP-11
from
Digital Equipment Corporation
and similar offerings from
Data General
and
HP
. The Series/1 was typically used to control and operate external electro-mechanical components while also allowing for primitive data storage and handling.
Although the Series/1 uses
EBCDIC
character encoding internally and locally attached EBCDIC terminals,
ASCII
-based remote terminals and devices could be attached via an I/O card with a
RS-232
interface to be more compatible with competing minicomputers. IBM's own
3101
and
3151
ASCII display terminals are examples of this. This was a departure from IBM mainframes that used 3270 terminals and coaxial attachment.
Series/1 computers were withdrawn from marketing in 1988 at or near the introduction of the
IBM AS/400
line.
A US government asset report dated May 2016
[1]
revealed that an IBM Series/1 was still being used as part of the country's
nuclear command and control
systems.
[2]
Models
[
edit
]
Initially, model 1 (4952, Model C),
[4]
model 3 (IBM 4953) and model 5 (IBM 4955, Model F
[4]
) processors were provided. Later processors were the model 4 (IBM 4954) and model 6 (IBM 4956).
Don Estridge
had been the lead manager on the IBM Series/1 minicomputer. He reportedly had fallen out of grace when that project was ill-received.
[5]
Software support
[
edit
]
The Series/1 could be ordered with or without operating system. Available were either of two mutually exclusive
operating systems
:
Event Driven Executive (EDX)
or Realtime Programming System (RPS). Systems using EDX were primarily programmed using
Event Driven Language (EDL)
, though high level languages such as
FORTRAN IV
,
PL/I
,
Pascal
and
COBOL
were also available. EDL delivered output in IBM machine code for
System/3
or
System/7
and for the Series/1 by an
emulator
. Although the Series/1 is underpowered by today's standards, a robust
multi-user
operating environment (RPS) was available along with several additional high level languages for the RPS OS. The EDX operating system was originally ported from the System/7.
[6]
Series/1 was also the first computer that IBM supported for
Unix
.
[7]
Systems without an operating system were intended for users needing dedicated applications that did not require the full capabilities of either OS. Applications were built using a set of standalone programs, called the Base Program Preparation Facilities, consisting of a
macro assembler
, a
link editor
and some basic utilities. A set of modules, called Control Program Support (CPS), was linked with the application to provide task management, data processing input/output support and initial program loading for both disks and diskettes.
[8]
Applications of the Series/1
[
edit
]
The Series/1 was also widely used in manufacturing environments, including
General Motors
assembly plants.
[9]
Example systems and applications included Manufacturing Information Database (MIDB), Vehicle Component Verification System (VCVS) and
Assembly Line Diagnostic Link
(ALDL). These systems were connected to plant floor devices and used in the realtime manufacture of vehicles. There was also a Time and Attendance (T&A) system connected to badge readers and employee turnstiles. Series/1 computers were also utilized in the early development of GM's
Manufacturing Automation Protocol
(MAP)
[10]
Commercial applications of customized Series/1 computers included an application by
State Farm
as an intelligent remote terminal in agents' offices. The processing unit was built into a desk.
The
Kmart Corporation
also used the Series/1 computer initially for its Kmart Information Network (KIN) which handled the store's ordering, invoicing, payroll, inventory, cash, and headquarters to store communications. A separate Series/1 computer was later added in the early phases of its
POS
roll-out networked with IBM 3683 registers. The Series/1 used for POS systems was short lived as it was quickly replaced by two IBM PC AT computers running either IBM 3683 or IBM 4683 registers.
The
Deluxe Corporation
also used a bank of Series/1 IBM 4956 computers for each check printing facility which handled the plant's business and personal check sales orders and printing operations. Various serial peripherals were attached:
Printronix
bar-coding printers,
MICR
Readers, IBM
ASCII
Terminals. Parallel devices were also used for phototypesetting machines, plate makers and Teletype BRPE punch creating
Punched tape
; all connecting to the IBM integrated DI/DO digital in/out card. The Series/1 was a good work horse for its day and was operational around the clock in an industrial environment.
Severn Trent Water Authority
used a number of Series/1 computers running the RPS operating system to collect and process river telemetry outstation data. It polled each outstation every 6 hours and fed data to applications running on their
ICL 2900
mainframe.
[11]
[12]
Unusually, the communications link between the IBM Series/1 machines and the ICL 2900 machine used the
ICL CO3
[13]
protocol rather than one of the (de facto standard) IBM communication protocols.
Shared Medical Systems (SMS Corp.) in the 1980s used the Series/1 (running EDX) as a channel-attached front-end communications processor for its IBM mainframe-based MVS/CICS hospital information system. In this environment the Series/1 provided customized interfaces to diverse (and generally non-IBM) minicomputer-based hospital systems using asynchronous or binary synchronous communications then commonly found in the laboratory, pharmacy, and other departments. Where necessary, the Series/1 also provided batch connectivity to a centralized TCAM host at SMS headquarters in Malvern, PA. Finally, the Series/1 provided a cost-effective method for remote support of the distributed mainframes using inexpensive ASCII terminals and modems, or IBM PCs equipped with light pens (emulating the 3278/9 terminals). The Series/1 was selected for this application due to challenges with MVS/VTAM and the 37x5 supporting straightforward non-SNA/SDLC communications. These Series/1 systems were connected to the mainframe using the Series/1 to System/370 channel attach module, and connected to non-IBM systems using the Feature-Programmable Multi-line Controller and Adapter.
Internally, IBM used banks of Series/1 computers as communications front end systems on their IBM Information Systems commercial network although back end processing was done with
System/370
architecture computers. Also, in some IBM locations, the Series/1 was employed for building access security using ID card readers.
Series/1 in the Marine Corps
[
edit
]
The
United States Marine Corps
was a major Series/1 customer in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s. IBM created a ruggedized, portable version with a green plastic and metal housing for field and shipboard use known as the IBM Series I Model 4110. The central processor unit boasted twin 1
megabyte
8 inch
floppy disk
drives, an 8-inch green
monitor
with 25 × 80 character resolution (and seldom-used graphics capability) and 16
kilobytes
of
RAM
which was upgraded to 32 kilobytes in 1984. Each standard 'suite' included the
CPU
unit, a keyboard, and a 132 column
dot-matrix printer
with a separate cooling-fan base. This suite was transported in two green, foam-lined, waterproof, locking plastic cases; each weighing over 100 pounds loaded. Among the optional pieces of equipment was a
paper tape punch
and a
magnetic tape
reader. Each of these also came with its own case.
[14]
The official nomenclature for this equipment was the 'Automated Data Processing Equipment for the Fleet Marine Force' (ADPE-FMF), but it was universally known as the 'Green Machine'.
The initial rollout of the equipment was on the west coast at
Camp Pendleton
in 1981, where the
1st FSSG
Information Systems Management Office
(ISMO) was formed to develop software and support the new equipment. ISMOs were also formed at
2nd FSSG
at
Camp Lejeune
,
2nd MAW
Cherry Point
and
3rd FSSG
and
1st MAW
on
Okinawa
and were staffed with computer programmers (MOS 4063/4066) whose responsibilities included training of end users, hardware and software troubleshooting and development of local computer applications. Systems development offices were also established at
Marine Corps Central Design and Programming Activities
(MCCDPA) at the
Marine Corps Finance Center
,
Kansas City, Missouri
, at
Marine Corps Base Quantico
, and at
Marine Corps Logistic Base
Albany, Georgia
. These offices specialized in (respectively) financial, personnel and logistical applications.
The 'Class I' systems were classified as mainframe systems ? and the Series/1 systems that provided field input to them ? that were maintained at and distributed from the three CDPAs. The chief among these were JUMPS/MMS (Joint Uniform Military Pay System/Manpower Management System), SASSY (Supported Activities Supply SYstem), and MIMMS (Marine Corps Integrated Maintenance Management System).
Designed primarily as a Source Data Automation (SDA) device for the enhancement of input into 'Class I' logistics and personnel computer systems, the ADPE-FMF Series/1 provided the power of a minicomputer to the battalion/squadron commander. However, left in the hands of young Marine Corps programmers eager to explore the capabilities of their new equipment, the Series/1 soon proved to be a valuable and flexible workhorse for all manner of tasks at all organizational levels.
Dozens of 'Class II' systems were locally developed and maintained at the GSUs (General Support Units), later known as ISMOs (Information Systems Management Offices), providing undreamed-of functionality even as far as the company and deployed unit level. Systems developed included the waggishly named 'Standardized Wing Overseas Operation Passenger System' (SWOOPS ? developed to generate Air Force passenger manifests from personnel databases) and 'Universal Random Integrity News Extract' (URINE ? developed to provide names picked randomly from personnel databases for
urinalysis
screening), FLEAS (FLight Evaluation Administration System).
Although a
COBOL
compiler
was available as part of the software package sold to the Marine Corps with the Series/1, most Class I and Class II systems development was in
EDL
.
In the middle 1980s, the ADPE-FMF equipment was gradually phased out in favor of IBM-PC class microcomputers running off-the-shelf software and Marine Corps developed applications written in
Ada
.
As part of U.S. nuclear weapon command and control systems
[
edit
]
In May 2016 the United States
Government Accountability Office
released a document that covered the need to upgrade or replace legacy computer systems within Federal Agencies. According to this document, there is still a Series/1 that "Coordinates the operational functions of the United States' nuclear forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and tanker support aircraft." This system still uses
8-inch floppy disks
, however the agency
[
clarification needed
]
plans to update some of the technology by the end of the 2017 fiscal year.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems"
(PDF)
.
Report to Congressional Requesters
. United States Government Accountability Office. May 2016
. Retrieved
May 26,
2016
.
- ^
Perez, Roi.
"US GAO finds nukes are controlled by computer from 1970's"
.
SC Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on July 1, 2016
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
ibm :: series1 :: GA34-0029-1 Installation Manual Physical Planning Mar77
. March 13, 1977.
- ^
a
b
Enterprise, I. D. G. (January 26, 1981).
Computerworld
. IDG Enterprise.
- ^
McCartney, Laton (November 17, 1997). "Teaching the elephant to dance".
Electronic Engineering Times
: 95.
- ^
John W. Rudan (September 17, 1999).
"Mike Newman Recollections, 1961?1999"
.
Oral and Personal Histories of Computing at Cornell
. Cornell University. ¶ 8.
- ^
Fiedler, Ryan (October 1983).
"The Unix Tutorial / Part 3: Unix in the Microcomputer Marketplace"
.
BYTE
. p. 132
. Retrieved
January 30,
2015
.
- ^
Schoeffler, James D. (1978).
IBM series/1: The small computer concept
. Atlanta, Ga: International Business Machines Corporation. SH30-0237.
- ^
Bright, David (June 9, 1986).
IBM adds three processors to 10-year-old Series/1 line
. ComputerWorld
. Retrieved
April 3,
2014
.
- ^
"IBM supplies US bureau with Series 1"
.
The Age
. Retrieved
April 3,
2014
.
- ^
Guido Premazzi; Erika Hargesheimer (2002).
Online Monitoring for Drinking Water Utilities
(Report). AWWA Research Foundation. p. 335
. Retrieved
October 25,
2019
.
- ^
Regional Review
(PDF)
(Report). National Rivers Authority. 1990. p. 9
. Retrieved
October 25,
2019
.
- ^
Howlett, J (November 1981).
"Architecture of the ICL System 25"
(PDF)
.
ICL Technical Journal
.
2
(4): 345
. Retrieved
October 25,
2019
.
- ^
Aday, David Russell; Pierce Jr., Merrill Lyman (June 1982).
"Automated Data Process Equipment - Fleet Marine Force"
.
External links
[
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]