Re: [EXTERNAL] History of EPICS

[Richard Farnsworth via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

As I recall, at the Australian Synchrotron project (ASP)  we were the first major EPICS PC based (PCI) Linux only facility. We had just one VME crate for the timing system, but  it did not have a CPU, We spoke to it via TCP/IP only and it was really just a power supply for the form factor card. Steve Hunt eventually developed the EPICS driver for us. There were a few other stand alone systems but they did not run EPICS  (e.g. The dipole power supply ran WinCE -  ouch). We used a custom real time Linux on some IOCs (Red hawk) and Redhat on others. After a few years we ran Redhat/Centos everywhere. 

just checking the list, I understand the SSRF (Shanghai) used VME 64.  Are the dates first light? SSRF had first light in Dec 2007. The ASP saw first light in June 2006. 

So I'm claiming "first all-Linux" EPICS machine at first light.  While I'm claiming firsts, I'd also like to try to claim a last. Andrew Johnson might like to check for me this if at all possible, I think we were the last major facility to sign an EPICS license agreement, rather than the current EPICS open licence it is now.

It seems obvious now, but in 2004, it wasn't so clear Linux was completely viable, it was a leap of faith.  But we had no local VME expertise at all.  Only after I had moved to Argonne (in about 2013), did the ASP, by then just called the AS, put an EPICS VME in a crate on a beamline. I gave some remote assistance  since by then I was surrounded by VME experts. And Andrew, I have always relied on Andrew.

Richard

On Wednesday 26 February 2025 at 02:00:13 pm AEDT, Steven Hunt via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:

I remember some very early meetings with Bob, Marty, and Jeff when I was at the SSC (Bubbatron) , I think held at LANL (AT-8).  This was  probably in 92/93 if someone could confirm? I don't know if Dave Gurd, or Doug Murray (now at SLAC) still read Tech-Talk, but I will try to reach out to them to see if they remember.  What I seem to remember is  we were advised, probably by Marty,  to use the 'standard' config using Sun workstations for clients (we used about every flavor of workstation, including Sun, DEC, HP and IBM-AIX). But I am pretty sure CEBAF at that time used HP.  Would Matt Stettler have been involved then? Would Joan Sage (formally CEBAF) also have been at SSC already then? Of course after this long, the timeline is hard to remember.

I found this in my notes, don't know how accurate it is, certainly not complete (GTA, SSC,...) the numeric values may have been the number of IOCs, this may have been only machines that were still running when I compiled this (probably when I was at ITER).   Might be interesting to complete this list, perhaps to add names of some of the people involved.

*ITER ITER EPICS Linux TCA? 500? 2017?
MedAustron EPICS? Linux? ? 50? 2013?
*Maxlab MaxIV EPICS? Linux? ? 100? 2013?
*BNL NSLSII EPICS Linux Home ? 2011?
PSI XFEL EPICS VxWorks VME 100 2010?
SLAC LCLS EPICS RTEMS VME 100 2008
SSRF SSRF EPICS Linux ? ? 2007
*AusSyn AS EPICS Linux PCI 30 2006
* RAL DLS EPICS VxWorks VME 300 2007
SSRL Spear3 EPICS RTEMS VME 100 2004
ORNL SNS EPICS VxWorks VME 300 2005
* PSI SLS EPICS VxWorks VME 250 2002
* CLS CLS EPICS Linux VME 100 2002
SSLS SSLS EPICS ? 2002
NSRC NSRC EPICS? 2001
BESSY BESSY2 EPICS VxWorks VME 200 2001?
KEK PF EPICS 1997
ANL APS EPICS VxWorks VME 300 199?
JASRI Spring8 EPICS 1996
NSRRC NSRRC EPICS 1993
* LBL ALS EPICS VxWorks VME 100 1991

On Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM Maren Purves via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:

Just a minor addition:
I know that Mary Fuka came to JCMT from LANL but I do not know what
she worked on at LANL.
I was told (don't remember by whom of the two) that she and Peregrine
McGehee (now at SLAC, we worked at the Caltech Submm Observatory at
the same time, about 30 years ago) once worked on the opposite ends of
the same beamline :)

Maren

On Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 10:47 AM Mathew Rippa <mrippa at gemini.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Patrik,
>
> As Maren points out, UKIRT and Keck may have been the first Telescopes using EPICS 3.12-ish(?) in the 90's. I recall William Lupton (Keck) and Nick Rees(UKIRT,JCMT) spearheaded the initiative to bring it to the Astronomy community. This was later supported by Maren, Allan Honey (drvSerial/drvAscii) collaborating with Jeff Hill and later Kevin Tsubota (Keck). When the Gemini project started many of the RGO staff developed EPICS related work packages: VMIC-5588 Reflective Memory, PMAC1 support, AllenBradley PLC5, GenSub Record (Andy Foster, Andrew Johnson et al), Xycom 240/566 (now acquired by Acromag?). I believe Mary Fuka (JCMT) worked on the predecessor to EDD/DM called GDCT(spelling?). Does that sound right, Maren?
>
> In 2009, I looked at Eric Norum's work bringing RTEMS 4.x to EPICS on PPC targets. At the time Gemini had its standard control as the mvme167 (68k) and the mvme2700 (MPC75). With Till Strauman (SLAC at the time) and Eric's help, I got the 2700 building for RTEMS 4.9.2 and it was accepted in EPICS 3.13 circa 2009. Gemini has since phased out the 167's and the 2700 is the ubiquitous Gemini controller. The 2700 now supports RTEMS 6.1 and development branches EPICS 7.
>
> Aloha,
> -Matt
>
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 23, 2025 at 1:13 AM Foster, Andrew (Observatory Science, RAL, TEC) via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:
>>
>> Aloha Maren,
>>
>> No, Observatory Sciences never bought a commercial license. But we've been involved with EPICS since the start of the company in 1998. Some of us, before that, working at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, on Gemini, and various Canary Island telescope projects.
>>
>> Cheers, Andy
>>
>>
>> Sent from Outlook for Android
>> ________________________________
>> From: Tech-talk <tech-talk-bounces at aps.anl.gov> on behalf of Maren Purves via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
>> Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2025 10:30:53 AM
>> To: Hartman, Steven <hartmansm at ornl.gov>
>> Cc: Nonn, Patrick <patrick.nonn at desy.de>; tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>
>> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] History of EPICS
>>
>> That was a great read - finally getting around to it now - , as was
>> Bob's later email reply, still missing Marty, and Steve Lewis as well.
>>
>> EDD/DM was written by Deb Kerstiens and I ported it to Linux after she
>> retired, when we (at the JAC, mostly working at UKIRT at the time,
>> about 2002) switched from Solaris to Linux. JCMT got EPICS later and
>> is using MEDM. UKIRT, now operated by the University of Hawaii
>> Institute for Astronomy, is probably still using EDD/DM unless their
>> part time software person has converted it all to Python interfaces.
>> We, now East Asian Observatory and only operating the JCMT, still run
>> EPICS 3.13.8 with some 3.14.7 (for camonitor) - and as time allows
>> taking some stabs at EPICS 7.
>>
>> Another one of the Maunakea Observatories using EPICS, these days on
>> RTEMS, is Gemini (at least North).
>>
>> As somebody asked about commercial licenses, did Observatory Sciences
>> buy a commercial license or was that after it went open source? Also,
>> Cosylab?
>>
>> Aloha,
>> Maren Purves
>> Head of Instrument and Telescope Software
>> East Asian Observatory / JCMT
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 21, 2025 at 11:04 AM Hartman, Steven via Tech-talk
>> <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > On Feb 21, 2025, at 1:53 PM, Johnson, Andrew N. via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:
>> >  I might be able find an online history that the late Marty Kraimer started writing,
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Still available on GitHub . . .
>> >
>> > https://urldefense.us/v3/__https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url="">
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Steven Hartman
>> > hartmansm at ornl.gov
>> >
>> >
>> >
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