VAXELN
Encyclopedia
VAXELN is a real-time operating system
for the VAX
family of computer
s produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation
(DEC) of Maynard
, Massachusetts
.
As with RSX-11
and VMS
, Dave Cutler
was the principal force behind the development of this operating system. Cutler's team developed the product after moving to the Seattle
, Washington area to form the DECwest Engineering Group, DEC's first engineering group outside New England. Initial target platforms for VAXELN were the "backplane interconnect" computers such as the model code-named Scorpio. At the time there were no VAX microcomputers. When VAXELN was well under way, Cutler spearheaded the next project, the MicroVAX I--the first VAX microcomputer. Although it was a low-volume product compared with the New England-developed MicroVAX II, the MicroVAX I demonstrated the set of architectural decisions needed to support a single-board implementation of the VAX computer family, and it also provided a platform for embedded applications written in VAXELN.
The VAXELN team made the decision, for the first release, to use the Pascal language as its system programming language. Other languages, including C, were supported in later releases of the system. The small and very focused development team built the first product in approximately 18 months.
VAXELN allowed a developer to write a self-contained embedded system application that would run on VAX (and later MicroVAX) hardware with no other operating system present. The system was debuted in Las Vegas in the early 1980s, with a variety of amusing applications written by the development team, ranging from a system that composed and played minuets to a robotic system that played and solved the Towers of Hanoi puzzle.
n sports equipment manufacturer Elan
. In order to avoid litigation DEC quickly renamed it to VAXELN by dropping the A, much to the disgruntlement of the developers. Some documentation and marketing material had already been printed referring to the product as ELAN, and samples of these posters were prized for many years by members of the original team.
Real-time operating system
A real-time operating system is an operating system intended to serve real-time application requests.A key characteristic of a RTOS is the level of its consistency concerning the amount of time it takes to accept and complete an application's task; the variability is jitter...
for the VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
family of computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
(DEC) of Maynard
Maynard, Massachusetts
Maynard is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 10,106.- History :Maynard, located on the Assabet River, was incorporated as an independent municipality in 1871. Prior to that it was known as 'Assabet Village' but was legally...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
As with RSX-11
RSX-11
RSX-11 is a family of real-time operating systems mainly for PDP-11 computers created by Digital Equipment Corporation , common in the late 1970s and early 1980s. RSX-11D first appeared on the PDP-11/40 in 1972...
and VMS
OpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
, Dave Cutler
Dave Cutler
David Neil Cutler, Sr. is an American software engineer, designer and developer of several operating systems including RSX-11M, VMS and VAXELN at Digital Equipment Corporation and Windows at Microsoft.- Personal history :...
was the principal force behind the development of this operating system. Cutler's team developed the product after moving to the Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, Washington area to form the DECwest Engineering Group, DEC's first engineering group outside New England. Initial target platforms for VAXELN were the "backplane interconnect" computers such as the model code-named Scorpio. At the time there were no VAX microcomputers. When VAXELN was well under way, Cutler spearheaded the next project, the MicroVAX I--the first VAX microcomputer. Although it was a low-volume product compared with the New England-developed MicroVAX II, the MicroVAX I demonstrated the set of architectural decisions needed to support a single-board implementation of the VAX computer family, and it also provided a platform for embedded applications written in VAXELN.
The VAXELN team made the decision, for the first release, to use the Pascal language as its system programming language. Other languages, including C, were supported in later releases of the system. The small and very focused development team built the first product in approximately 18 months.
VAXELN allowed a developer to write a self-contained embedded system application that would run on VAX (and later MicroVAX) hardware with no other operating system present. The system was debuted in Las Vegas in the early 1980s, with a variety of amusing applications written by the development team, ranging from a system that composed and played minuets to a robotic system that played and solved the Towers of Hanoi puzzle.
Trivia
The system was originally supposed to be named ELAN, but DEC discovered at the last minute that it was trademarked in a European country where DEC wished to conduct business. The company holding the trademark to ELAN was the SloveniaSlovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n sports equipment manufacturer Elan
Elan (company)
Elan is a Slovenian company, located in Begunje, specializing in the production of sporting goods. It is best known for its skis and snowboards. Other products include sailboats from 30 to 50 ft length, motor yachts, apparel , equipment for sports facilities...
. In order to avoid litigation DEC quickly renamed it to VAXELN by dropping the A, much to the disgruntlement of the developers. Some documentation and marketing material had already been printed referring to the product as ELAN, and samples of these posters were prized for many years by members of the original team.