Migrating CERN/PS Control System User Interface to IBM Workstations

N. de Metz-Noblat
CERN

Digital has stopped producing work-stations based on the MIPS chips. Therefore, a review of the software used as user interface within the CERN/PS control system and a porting to IBM work-stations based on the PowerPC chips is now taking place. We are preparing the next ten years' maintenance of this code with a minimum manpower. This implies a clear separation between general computing facilities, control system developments and operation. As many other places might have the same kind of problems, we will try to summarize various aspects of the migration:

-System installation principles used to speed up error recovery time and long-term maintenance or exploitation costs;
-Problems correlated with the coexistence of two different architectures during migration;
-Software problems due to the architecture and operating system changes;
-Dependencies on a specific manufacturer or software supplier.