The Atlas Computing Division's main task is to coordinate and manage the provision of interactive computing resources by the Science Research Council, whether sited in the universities or at the Rutherford Laboratory. During the year, substantial increases in facilities have been made by upgrading the DEC10 computers at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) and at the Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre (ERCC), providing a PRIME P400 computer at the Rutherford Laboratory and upgrading six existing university mini-computers. Considerable effort is being expended in linking these computers to form a network which will include the IBM 360/195. In addition, a GEC 4070 has been purchased, and an evaluation of the P400 and GEC 4070 computers is being undertaken with university collaboration. The provision of further mini-computers will be influenced by the results of this assessment.
The Division is also involved with a number of other SRC projects. The Grants and Awards Administration scheme currently operating on the ICL 1906A computer is being rewritten for an ICL 2904 which has been purchased for this work. Various books have been prepared and published using the FR80 microfilm recorder. A further GEC 4070 has been purchased in collaboration with the Social Science Research Council for mounting a large interactive statistics package. During the year, the Quantum Chemistry and Microdensitometer projects were moved to the Daresbury Laboratory.
The major interactive computing power is provided by Digital Equipment Corporation DEC10 KI configurations at UMIST and the Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre. Each machine has a front-end processor which is linked to the other and to a free-standing network node at the Rutherford Laboratory. The Edinburgh system has a further synchronous front-end processor for concentrating minor network nodes in the Edinburgh region and a remote node at Sussex University. All three main network nodes will provide asynchronous terminal concentration and offer dial-up facilities up to 1200 bits per second. Substantial progress has been made in the development of this DECNET-based network, and the connection of it to the HASP star network centred on Rutherford's IBM 360/195 is imminent.
The PRIME P400 computer was made generally available to internal users in January 1977. As part of the programme of assessment and development, three groups of collaborators began interactive use of the machine over Post Office dial up lines at the beginning of April. A more general service to SRC-supported Users began in August and is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The system is capable of supporting 6 concurrent interactive users. Approval was recently given for a memory upgrade to bring the system up to a total of 512 Kbytes and for a 300 Mbyte disc-drive. These enhancements will enable the system to support up to 10 concurrent users and permit an investigation of the possibility of supporting scientific database management systems on multi-user mini-computers.
The GEC 4070 which is being evaluated and developed as a multi-user mini-computer was installed in February 1977 Since then, both the discs have been upgraded from 35 Mbytes to 70 Mbytes, and the memory from 192 Kbytes to 256 Kbytes, to cater for larger programs. The machine hardware has been reliable and the software has been remarkably error-free compared with similar systems. The excellent operating system facilities and user view of the system have required little improvement. The software effort has been directed to developing features not present in the GEC system, such as disc-to-disc dumping and accounting. The weak point of the machine is the effect the limited address space has on large FORTRAN programs. Small programs run quite efficiently. A manual for the machine has been produced and since October the collaborators have been evaluating the GEC 4070.
Engineers from various universities were selected to join with Laboratory staff in evaluating the P400 and GEC 4070 computers. These engineers, from Cambridge, Glasgow and Leeds, representing a number of different disciplines, have been mounting software on both machines. This software is already operational on other computers elsewhere (mostly single-user). The comments received have been of great value in suggesting areas where further development is required and a number of joint meetings have been held to highlight common problems. The collaborators have so far succeeded in mounting programs on the P400 and are well advanced on the GEC 4070. A second set, from Glasgow, Leeds Polytechnic and Salford, has begun to mount software on the GEC 4070 and will move to the P400 next year.
As part of the plan to provide more interactive computing for the universities, several existing mini-computers have been upgraded to allow a general service to be offered. The sites chosen were Southampton, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Oxford and Swansea. These upgrades should be completed by March 1978. The Rutherford Laboratory will also contribute to the running costs and will control a share of each machine for the use of SRC grant-holders. It is intended to make any specialised software at a site available for the benefit of other SRC-supported groups.
Following a series of users' meetings held at the Laboratory, the Interactive Computing Facility Committee (ICFC) agreed that a number of special interest groups should be formed. Their function is to advise the ICFC on the software requirements in their respective areas over the next five years and to present proposals to the Committee detailing how these requirements can best be met. Initially six groups were formed - two in the finite element area (structural and geo-technical applications, fluid mechanics), two in circuit design (analogue circuits, digital circuits) and one each in electromagnetic applications and artificial intelligence. The respective chairmen are Professor I McLeod, Dr C Brebbia, Professor K Nichols, Mr G Musgrave, Professor P Lawrenson and Dr A Sloman. Each group has a member of Rutherford Laboratory staff to provide co-ordination and to evaluate software to aid the special interest groups within their areas.
In November, the chairmen were asked to give brief outline proposals to the ICFC. At this meeting, the chairmen and the ICF committee members discussed the requirements and the effort available over the next 5-year period. Detailed proposals will be made by the groups next year. Special interest groups in computer-aided architectural design and control systems are to be formed in the near future.
he Division publishes a four-page newsletter at about two monthly intervals to inform users of the Interactive Computing Facility of current developments and future plans affecting the service. The first issue appeared in February 1977 and four more were produced in the course of the year. The text is formatted by computer and then phototypeset onto hardcopy using the FR80 microfilm recorder.
Setting up the Interactive Computing Facility's network has proceeded steadily throughout the year. Planning has been dependent on the future of national and international networks. The advent of the international protocol X25 and the proposals coming from the Network Unit of the Computer Board and Research Councils now give a clearer picture of the way ahead. The UMIST and Edinburgh DEC10 systems are now linked using DECNET protocol and the installation of a node at the Rutherford Laboratory connected to both these computers is in progress. It is proposed to install concentrators using GEC 2050 computers at centres where the number of users is high, and the possibility of connecting PDP11 computers in several universities to the network is being considered. Plans are well advanced to link the network to Rutherford's IBM 360/195.
The P400 is now linked to the IBM 360/195 and allows users to submit jobs to the IBM 360/195 and to receive the results back in the P400 for further processing if required. Access is also possible to the FR80 microfilm recorder. A connection between the GEC 4070 and the IBM 360/195 computers should soon be available. The GEC 4070 is linked to the Post Office Experimental Packet Switched Service (EPSS) network. The P400 and the GEC 4070 have also been connected for file transfer purposes and a link to the P400 at Nottingham University is being discussed. In addition, a considerable number of terminals have been purchased and most of these are available to universities from a pool. Some terminals are more specialised and have been obtained for evaluation prior to their general use. The major items are an IMLAC PDS4 refresh display and a graphics option controller (GOC) from Sigma Electronics which allows an alpha-numeric display to be converted into a raster display capable of drawing lines and shading blocked areas.
With the impending closure of the ICL 1906A computer, the Laboratory was asked to find a suitable alternative on which to continue the existing Grants and Awards administration. It was felt that this was also a suitable time to convert the current batch systems to interactive working. Interaction would allow on-line data input and validation, as well as the ability to make enquiries and obtain answers almost immediately.
An ICL 2904 mini-computer was chosen for the Grants and Awards administration task. As the ICL 2904 is compatible with the 1900 series, funds could be saved by transferring peripherals (disc drives, tape decks, lineprinter) to it from the 1906A. This machine had the additional advantage that software development could be started on the 1906A with the knowledge that programs could be transported directly to the 2904 with very little change. To serve the requirement for interaction, visual display units have been purchased. These are full-screen devices capable of displaying forms for filling via a typewriter keyboard. Areas of the screen may be protected from overwriting and it is possible to flash items to draw attention to them. In addition, a remote job entry station with card reader and lineprinter has been obtained. It is envisaged that these items will be installed at the Swindon office of SRC and linked to the ICL 2904 through a Post Office private line.
In order to complete the work in the time available, two commercial software packages have been obtained. Telecomputing Ltd. supplied a monitor (TPS) for controlling the visual display units. This provides all the facilities for time-sharing between the different functions required. To keep the maintenance of data to a minimum, a small database management system (TOTAL) has been purchased. Telecomputing Ltd. have undertaken to provide an interface between TOTAL and TPS, specifically for the present application.
The specific design for the Grants system database was begun in May. Software design and programming on the ICL 1906A began in June, once the order for the 2904 was confirmed. The first demonstration system was ready in September, coinciding with the delivery of the 2904. The converted Grants system is due to become live at the end of March 1978 and the Awards system is due for completion later in 1978.
The FR80 microfilm recorder was used to prepare film for book production for the first time in January. The book is volume 8 of the series on Molecular Structures and Dimensions Bibliography 1975-76, Organic and Organometallic Crystal Structures. It was published jointly by the International Union of Crystallography and the Crystallographic Data Centre, Cambridge. Data were collected at Cambridge, sent to the Rutherford Laboratory on magnetic tape, processed on the IBM 360/195 using programs developed by the Division and a further magnetic tape produced to drive the FR80 microfilm recorder. The book contains 2762 references to studies of 2678 distinct chemical compounds, with 1313 cross-references. It must be printed quickly and accurately if it is to be useful to the research community. Conventional printing cannot be used because of the difficulty of proof reading thousands of very similar complex chemical names and formulae.
Later in the year, these programs were adapted to process a second, larger book using hardcopy pages instead of film. This is the cumulative index volume produced for the same publishers, containing references to all the compounds listed in the 8 bibliographic volumes published between 1935 and 1976. The large number of references (approx 14000) necessitated changes in the page layouts and the production of a new index.
It is hoped to adapt the programs used for these special indexes so that they can be used for general Laboratory documents such as instruction manuals and newsletters. The first example of such a document is the recent additions list produced by the library. Staff have been assisting the library on a project to computerise the library catalogue, which is now a set of microfiche made using the IBM 360/ 195 and the FR80. The microfiche include a Key-Word-In-Context index to the titles of books and reports received. This additional facility has proved to be most valuable in providing useful information additional to the usual subject index.
A project using a GEC 4070 computer is being undertaken by SRC staff on behalf of the Social Science Research Council. It is intended to use the GEC 4070 to provide a system dedicated to the use of SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). SPSS is one of the most heavily-used computer packages in Universities today. By dedicating the computer to one package, the system can be tailored to the needs of the user. The GEC 4070 system consists of a 128 Kbytes store, one fixed and one exchangeable disc (each of 4.8 Mbytes), a slow paper-tape reader, an operator's console and a DECwriter. A link is being provided initially to Rutherford's IBM 360/195, but eventually it will be to another machine in a university. This other machine will provide data storage and input/output via the normal peripherals.
The Division has continued to provide technical and administrative support for the handling of data collected by the S2/68 ultra-violet sky survey telescope aboard the TD1-A satellite. A data bank of ultra-violet star spectra has been built up from the second scan of the raw data tapes and is being used by astrophysicists at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, University College London and elsewhere. The spectra are being output as graphical plots from the IBM 360/195 to microfiche using the FR80 microfilm recorder. This information is used to edit the data bank to remove doubtful signals which could otherwise affect the mean spectra computed for each star. From these spectra, four colours are derived for each of the 30,000 stars; these data are to be published in a star catalogue using the FR80.
