<s>
The	O
Event	B-Operating_System
Driven	I-Operating_System
Executive	I-Operating_System
(	O
EDX	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
computer	B-General_Concept
operating	I-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
originally	O
developed	O
by	O
IBM	O
for	O
the	O
control	O
of	O
research	O
laboratory	O
devices	O
and	O
experiments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dr.	O
Henry	O
M	O
.	O
Gladney	O
established	O
the	O
first	O
laboratory	O
automation	O
project	O
in	O
1968	O
,	O
with	O
an	O
IBM	B-Device
1800	I-Device
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
Note	O
that	O
this	O
was	O
a	O
long	O
time	O
before	O
instrumentation	O
came	O
with	O
embedded	O
chips	O
and	O
microprocessors	B-Architecture
and	O
the	O
output	O
from	O
a	O
sophisticated	O
research	O
instrument	O
was	O
likely	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
strip	O
of	O
chart	O
paper	O
with	O
squiggly	O
marks	O
on	O
it	O
or	O
perhaps	O
punched	O
paper	O
tape	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Dr.	O
Gladney	O
became	O
the	O
manager	O
of	O
the	O
Research	O
Computing	O
Facility	O
(	O
RCF	O
)	O
and	O
,	O
when	O
Research	O
moved	O
to	O
Building	O
028	O
in	O
1970	O
,	O
he	O
established	O
a	O
new	O
department	O
in	O
the	O
RCF	O
,	O
the	O
Laboratory	O
Automation	O
Group	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
tasked	O
to	O
transition	O
to	O
a	O
new	O
sensor-based	O
computer	O
,	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
System/7	I-Device
produced	O
in	O
Boca	O
Raton	O
,	O
Florida	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
System/7	B-Device
was	O
a	O
much	O
smaller	O
machine	O
than	O
the	O
1800	O
and	O
was	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
co-located	O
in	O
individual	O
research	O
labs	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
instruments	O
it	O
would	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multiple	O
System/7s	B-Device
were	O
to	O
be	O
hosted	O
,	O
large	O
scale	O
computing	O
purposes	O
,	O
by	O
the	O
IBM	B-Application
System/360	I-Application
“	O
mainframe	O
”	O
which	O
served	O
the	O
SJRL	O
as	O
a	O
whole	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
System/7	B-Device
was	O
somewhat	O
unusual	O
,	O
especially	O
,	O
from	O
a	O
programmer	O
's	O
perspective	O
,	O
in	O
its	O
lack	O
of	O
supporting	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
had	O
a	O
hard	O
disc	O
drive	O
for	O
data	O
storage	O
along	O
with	O
digital	O
and	O
analog	O
input/output	O
and	O
process	B-Application
interrupt	I-Application
all	O
of	O
which	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
for	O
lab	O
instrument	O
interface	O
,	O
data	O
acquisition	O
and	O
instrument	O
control	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
What	O
it	O
did	O
not	O
have	O
was	O
any	O
sort	O
of	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
or	O
high	O
level	O
programming	O
facility	O
,	O
only	O
a	O
basic	O
assembler	O
language	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
clear	O
from	O
the	O
start	O
that	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
successful	O
System/7	B-Device
based	O
environment	O
for	O
laboratory	O
automation	O
in	O
the	O
SJRL	O
,	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
necessary	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
real-time	O
,	O
sensor-based	O
,	O
multitasking	B-Operating_System
and	O
multiprogramming	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
an	O
associated	O
application	O
development	O
facility	O
which	O
provided	O
not	O
only	O
an	O
appropriate	O
high	O
level	O
application	O
programming	O
language	O
with	O
requisite	O
special	O
features	O
,	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
was	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
an	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
known	O
as	O
the	O
Laboratory	O
Automation	O
Basic	O
Supervisor	O
for	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
(	O
LABS/7	O
)	O
and	O
an	O
application	O
development	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
LABS/7	O
was	O
a	O
real-time	O
multitasking	B-Operating_System
,	O
multiprogramming	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
application	O
development	O
language	O
was	O
needed	O
to	O
provide	O
timing	O
and	O
process	B-Application
interrupt	I-Application
capability	O
,	O
analog	O
and	O
digital	O
input	O
and	O
output	O
commands	O
to	O
allow	O
data	O
acquisition	O
from	O
and	O
control	O
of	O
external	O
laboratory	O
instruments	O
along	O
with	O
basic	O
computational	O
functions	O
,	O
direct	O
access	O
data	O
storage	O
and	O
host	O
communications	O
in	O
a	O
hierarchical	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
decided	O
that	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
a	O
syntactical	O
model	O
which	O
could	O
be	O
processed	O
by	O
the	O
System/360	B-Application
Macro	O
Assembler	O
would	O
obviate	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
writing	O
a	O
compiler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
effect	O
,	O
this	O
was	O
a	O
high	O
level	O
instruction	O
set	O
,	O
or	O
programming	O
language	O
,	O
for	O
a	O
hypothetical	O
or	O
virtual	O
real-time	O
sensor-based	O
computer	O
and	O
LABS/7	O
provided	O
a	O
language	O
interpreter	O
implemented	O
in	O
System/7	B-Device
machine	O
language	O
which	O
mimicked	O
,	O
or	O
,	O
in	O
today	O
's	O
language	O
,	O
emulated	B-Application
,	O
the	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
a	O
System/360	B-Application
software	O
package	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Host	O
Communication	O
Facility	O
(	O
HCF	O
)	O
was	O
developed	O
to	O
provide	O
bi-directional	O
data	O
transfer	O
between	O
a	O
host	O
System/360	B-Application
and	O
multiple	O
satellite	O
System/7s	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
together	O
,	O
LABS/7	O
provided	O
an	O
environment	O
where	O
1	O
)	O
an	O
application	O
program	O
could	O
be	O
written	O
and	O
compiled	O
on	O
a	O
host	O
System/360	B-Application
,	O
downloaded	O
from	O
the	O
host	O
to	O
a	O
System/7	B-Device
in	O
a	O
scientist	O
's	O
laboratory	O
,	O
3	O
)	O
invoked	O
to	O
control	O
a	O
laboratory	O
apparatus/instrument/machine	O
,	O
4	O
)	O
acquire	O
measurement	O
results	O
from	O
the	O
instrument	O
,	O
5	O
)	O
send	O
the	O
data	O
to	O
the	O
host	O
computer	O
,	O
6	O
)	O
start	O
a	O
program	O
on	O
the	O
host	O
to	O
analyze	O
the	O
data	O
and	O
7	O
)	O
return	O
and	O
display	O
the	O
results	O
of	O
the	O
analysis	O
for	O
the	O
scientist	O
in	O
the	O
laboratory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Of	O
course	O
,	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
could	O
be	O
operated	O
in	O
a	O
completely	O
standalone	O
,	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
usage	O
of	O
LABS/7	O
increased	O
in	O
the	O
SJRL	O
,	O
other	O
IBM	O
organizations	O
,	O
who	O
were	O
trying	O
to	O
implement	O
applications	O
on	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
,	O
became	O
aware	O
of	O
LABS/7	O
,	O
tried	O
it	O
and	O
found	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
extremely	O
useful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
these	O
were	O
the	O
General	O
Product	O
Division	O
on	O
the	O
IBM	O
plant	O
site	O
in	O
San	O
Jose	O
,	O
SJRL	O
's	O
sister	O
research	O
labs	O
in	O
Yorktown	O
,	O
NY	O
and	O
Zürich	O
,	O
Switzerland	O
,	O
the	O
IBM	O
Federal	O
Systems	O
Division	O
in	O
Oswego	O
,	O
NY	O
and	O
the	O
IBM	O
Office	O
Products	O
Division	O
in	O
Lexington	O
,	O
KY	O
.	O
Word	O
about	O
LABS/7	O
then	O
spread	O
to	O
“	O
the	O
field	O
”	O
,	O
those	O
who	O
were	O
charged	O
with	O
marketing	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
to	O
IBM	O
customers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
LABS/7	O
IUP	O
was	O
relatively	O
successful	O
but	O
came	O
rather	O
late	O
in	O
the	O
product	O
lifetime	O
of	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1976	O
,	O
IBM	O
announced	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
Series/1	I-Device
,	O
the	O
successor	O
to	O
the	O
System/7	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Series/1	B-Device
was	O
the	O
last	O
in	O
the	O
line	O
of	O
special	O
purpose	O
sensor-based	O
computers	O
produced	O
by	O
IBM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Laboratory	O
Automation	O
Group	O
in	O
SJRL	O
acquired	O
an	O
early	O
model	O
of	O
the	O
Series/1	B-Device
and	O
by	O
announcement	O
time	O
had	O
ported	O
LABS/7	O
to	O
the	O
Series/1	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
LABS/7	O
became	O
EDX/1	O
,	O
the	O
Event	B-Operating_System
Driven	I-Operating_System
Executive	I-Operating_System
which	O
,	O
of	O
course	O
,	O
included	O
an	O
embedded	O
interpreter	O
for	O
the	O
programming	O
language	O
which	O
was	O
appropriately	O
named	O
EDL	O
(	O
Event	O
Driven	O
Language	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
a	O
powerful	O
terminal	O
control	O
product	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Communications	O
Facility	O
(	O
EDX/CF	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
sales	O
of	O
EDX	O
was	O
especially	O
focused	O
on	O
a	O
distributed	O
computing	O
environment	O
whereby	O
the	O
Series/1	B-Device
was	O
used	O
primarily	O
as	O
a	O
terminal	O
controller	O
,	O
in	O
many	O
cases	O
attached	O
to	O
a	O
System/370	O
host	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
installed	O
base	O
of	O
EDX	O
grew	O
,	O
the	O
product	O
support	O
for	O
EDX	O
was	O
transferred	O
to	O
the	O
IBM	O
General	O
Systems	O
Division	O
,	O
the	O
Series/1	B-Device
product	O
division	O
,	O
in	O
Boca	O
Raton	O
,	O
FL	O
and	O
EDX	O
became	O
a	O
fully	O
supported	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
EDX	O
had	O
its	O
origin	O
as	O
a	O
tool	O
for	O
Laboratory	O
Automation	O
and	O
in	O
1981	O
,	O
IBM	O
announced	O
a	O
Series/1	B-Device
&	O
EDX-based	O
application	O
software	O
package	O
,	O
EDX	O
Laboratory	O
Automation	O
Software	O
which	O
was	O
developed	O
at	O
the	O
SJRL	O
,	O
as	O
an	O
IUP	O
,	O
product	O
number	O
5798-RHB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
U.S.	O
Marine	O
Corps	O
is	O
recognized	O
for	O
its	O
extensive	O
usage	O
of	O
the	O
Series/1	B-Device
and	O
EDX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IBM	O
plant	O
site	O
in	O
San	O
Jose	O
,	O
California	O
implemented	O
a	O
completely	O
automated	O
warehouse	O
facility	O
and	O
inventory	O
system	O
for	O
production	O
parts	O
complete	O
with	O
robot	O
fork	O
lifts	O
all	O
under	O
the	O
control	O
of	O
one	O
Series/1	B-Device
computer	O
running	O
EDX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
utility	O
packages	O
developed	O
by	O
Legler	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
recently	O
as	O
September	O
2014	O
,	O
a	O
program	O
was	O
announced	O
by	O
business	O
partners	O
IBM	O
&	O
Datatrend	O
which	O
allows	O
running	O
applications	O
to	O
be	O
ported	O
from	O
a	O
Series/1	B-Device
to	O
UNIX	B-Application
based	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
