IBM Series/1
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The IBM Series/1 computer was a 16-bit minicomputer 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. Series/1's were typically used to control and operate external electro-mechanical components while also allowing for primitive data storage and handling. A "technologically advanced" Series/1 operated at 50-100 MHz with 1 Megabyte of memory.
The Series/1 was available with either of two mutually exclusive operating systems: Event Driven Exectutive (EDX) or Realtime Programming System (RPS). Systems using EDX where primarily programmed using Event Driven Language (EDL) although high level languages were also available such as Fortran IV (I think PL/1 and Cobol were also available?). Although the Series 1 was grossly underpowered by today's standards, a robust multiuser operating environment (RPS) was available along with several additional high level languages for the RPS OS.
[edit] Applications of the Series/1
A version of the Series 1 served as an agency level computer for State Farm.
Series/1's were also widely used in manufacturing environments including General Motors assembly plants. Example systems and applications included Manafacturing Information Database (MIDB), Vechicle 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 turnstyles.
[edit] Series/1 in the Marine Corps
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. The central processor unit boasted twin 1 megabyte 8 inch floppy disk drives, an 8 inch green monitor with 25x80 character resolution (and seldom-used graphics capability) and 16 kilobytes of RAM. 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.
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 and 3rd FSSG on Okinawa. 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 ISMOs, 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).
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.
