Startup of the Experimental Physics Industrial Control System at NSTX

The Experimental Physics Industrial Control System (EPICS) is a set of software which is being used as the basis of the National Spherical Torus Experiment´s (NSTX) Process Control System, a major element of the NSTX´s Central Instrumentation and Control System. EPICS is a result of a co-development effort started by several U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories. EPICS is actively supported through an international collaboration made up of government and industrial users. EPICS´s good points include portability, scalability, and extensibility. A drawback for small experiments is that a wide range of software skills are necessary to get the software tools running for the process engineers. Our experience in designing, developing operating and maintaining NSTX´s EPICS (system) will he reviewed