Guide to the Edward Feustel collection on the Rice University Computer Project
Finding aid prepared by Sara Chabino Lott
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA, 94043
(650) 810-1010
research@computerhistory.org
April 2016
Title: Edward Feustel collection on the Rice University Computer Project
Identifier/Call Number: X4736.2008
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
4.8 Linear feet,
11 manuscript boxes, 1 1/2 manuscript box
Date (inclusive): 1958-1989
Abstract: The Edward Feustel collection on the Rice University Computer Project (formerly Rice Institute) contains material collected
by Feustel while he was employed at Rice University and Prime Computer. The collection spans 1958 to 1989, with some undated
material. The material from Rice University documents the Rice University Computer Project, which produced the R1 computer,
in full operation from 1961 to 1971. The R1 material includes documentation for R1 hardware and software, source code listings,
status reports, and technical papers. The collection also includes some design documents and source codes listings for the
R2, which was a planned follow-on to the R1, but whose construction was never completed. Also included are Prime Computer
manuals.
creator:
Feustel, Edward A., 1940-
Processing Information
Collection processed by Paul McJones and CHM volunteers.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum’s collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], [Date], Edward Feustel collection on the Rice University Computer Project, Lot X4736.2008, Box [#],
Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Edward A. Feustel, 2008.
Biographical/Historical Note
Edward A. Feustel was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1940. He graduated from MIT in 1964 with simultaneous bachelor of science
and master of science degrees in electrical engineering. He then earned a master of arts in 1965 and a PhD in 1967 from Princeton
University in electrical engineering, after which he became a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Feustel
began working at Rice University in 1968 where he participated in the Rice University Computer Project with responsibility
for software design and emulation of the R2 computer. Feustel became a tenured associate professor of electrical engineering
and computer science at Rice before leaving in 1979. From 1979 to 1992 Feustel worked at Prime Computer where he was a principal
technical consultant. After leaving Prime in 1992, Feustel joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) as a member of
its research staff until 2000. After IDA, Feustel served as an adjunct faculty member at the Institute for Security Technology
Studies (ISTS) from 2000 to 2007 and adjunct professor of computer science at Dartmouth College from 2007 until his retirement
in 2012. Throughout his career Feustel published numerous papers on non-parametric detection and computer architecture. Feustel
currently resides in Plainfield, New Hampshire.
The Rice University Computer Project (then Rice Institute) was established in 1957 with a grant from the Atomic Energy Commission
and an initial contribution from the Shell Development Company. It was led by Dr. Martin Graham, formerly of Brookhaven National
Laboratory, with a small technical staff. A large vacuum tube computer known as the R1 was constructed with several innovative
features designed to facilitate scientific computation. The internal word length was 56 bits, and the initial memory had 8K
words implemented with Radechon cathode ray tubes. 24K words of magnetic core memory were added in 1964. The Radechon tube
memory had a word length of 63 bits, which provided 7 bits for a pioneering implementation of a Hamming code error correcting
system in the memory interface circuits. Indirect addressing was implemented as well as a feature dedicating two bits of the
56 bit words as tag bits, which could be used in various ways to identify certain data elements, such as an aid in addressing
arrays. Console switches could be set to enable program trapping based on selected values of the tag bits which in turn could
control program behavior or facilitate program debugging.
Operating system software including an assembler and a compiler was developed by J. K. Iliffe, who joined the project from
England in 1958.
The computer was in operation from 1961 through 1971. Its use by science and engineering departments resulted in the publication
of more than 60 technical papers. It was one of the most successful of all large vacuum tube computers because of its innovations
and usefulness in producing scientific results and providing experience for graduate students in hardware and software design.
Iliffe returned to England and developed the data tag concept much further in a new architecture called the Basic Language
Machine. He returned to the Rice Project in 1968 to join in specifying the architecture of a new computer based on the Basic
Language Machine, to be constructed at Rice as a follow-on to the R1. The new machine was called the R2 and construction was
nearly 90% complete in 1976 when it was abandoned for lack of support.
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Edward Feustel collection on the Rice University Computer Project is arranged into two series. Series 1, “Rice University
Computer Project materials,” contains documents that Feustel gathered when he left Rice University. The records in Series
1 span 1958 to 1970. There are early documents for the R1 hardware and software, written while the hardware was being designed
in the late 1950s. There are also hardware and software manuals used throughout the 1960s. There are source code listings
for the operating system, assembler and compilers, and libraries. Also included are status reports from 1967 and 1970 that
provide an overview of the R1 computer and how it was used for research at Rice University. Finally, there is a set of technical
reports and drafts of papers written about the R1. There is also a set of design documents and source code listings for the
R2, a follow-on to the R1 that was not completed. Series 2, “Prime Computer manuals,” contains hardware and software manuals
for Prime Computer products, as well as a few non-Prime Computer manuals.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 2 series:
Series 1, Rice University Computer Project materials, 1958-1971
Series 2, Prime Computer manuals, 1974-1989
Related Collections at CHM
Related Collections at Other Repositories
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Feustel, Edward A., 1940-
Prime Computer, Inc.--Handbooks and manuals
R1 Computer
Rice University. Department of Computer Science
Rice University Computer Project materials, Series 1,
1958-1971
102726203
Rice Computer III
1967-09
102726204
Rice University Computer Project : final technical report
1970-06-19
102726205
Reprints, preprints, papers, and theses prepared with the aid of the Rice Computer : September 1960
- September 1964 and September 1964 - June 1970
1970-06-19
102726206
The last 200 pages of R1
1971-05-24
102726207
Portraits of Rice Computer Project personnel
ca. 1965
102726208
Operating notes
ca. 1961
102726209
A manual for the Rice Institute Computer
1958-09-01
102726210
Rice Institute Computer Project programming memoranda
ca. 1959
102726212
Notes on the Genie compiler for the Rice University Computer
1964-01
102726213
Rice University Computer : basic machine operation
1962-01
102726214
Rice University Computer : SPIREL system and assembly system
1964-04
102726215
Programming systems : PLACER, assembly language, Genie, SPIREL, library, magnetic tape (Programming
Staff copy, with annotations)
1968-07
102726216
Programming systems : PLACER, assembly language, Genie, SPIREL, library, magnetic tape
1968-07
102726217
The use of the Genie system in numerical calculation
1961
102726218
A dynamic storage allocation scheme
1962-10
102726219
The role of addressing in programming systems, and Continuous evaluation
1964
102726220
Use of dynamically allocatable labelled memory blocks in programming systems
1965-10
102726221
Storage organization in programming systems
ca. 1967
102726222
Storage organization in programming systems
1968-10
102726223
Elements of BLM
1968-11-07
102726224
Store management techniques
1969-01-23
102726225
SPIREL operating system design notes and program listing
ca. 1968
102726226
AP1 assembler design notes and program listing
ca. 1968
102726227
PLACER design notes and program listing
ca. 1965
102726228
AP1 macros and back-translator design notes and program listing
ca. 1965
102726229
Genie design notes and program listing
ca. 1967
102726230
Math subroutine design notes and program listings
ca. 1965
102726231
Library - real and complex scalar design notes and program listings
undated
102726232
Library - real matrix design notes and program listings
undated
102726233
Library - complex matrix design notes and program listings
undated
102726234
Library - software design notes and program listings
undated
102726235
Library - I/O design notes and program listings
undated
102726236
Magnetic tape system design notes and program listing
undated
102726237
MIDOL language definition and program listing
ca. 1968
102726238
ALGOL compiler program listing
undated
102726239
Design notes and program listing for implementation of Euler programming language (Niklaus
Wirth)
ca. 1969
102726240
Rice Computer-2 general specifications
ca. 1970
102726241
An assembler for simulation of the new Rice Computer : AP1/R2
1969-04-23
102726242
Assembler for simulation of the new Rice Computer : AP1/R2
1969-06
102726243
R2 functions
undated
102726244
The R2-PDP-11 interface to the programmer
1971-03-27
102726245
Preliminary notes on the disk drive and controller
1971-07-01
102726246
Miscellaneous notes for bringing up the R2
ca. 1971
102726247
How to use the new syntax analyzer
undated
102726248
R2 simulator design notes and program listing
ca. 1969
102726249
AP1/R2 VERSION R1 program listing
ca. 1969
102726250
R2 files program listing
ca. 1970
102726251
R2 OS program listing
1969-08-24
Prime Computer manuals, Series 2,
1974-1989
102703285
Software Tools Subsystem tutorial - User's guide
1985-05
102703286
Software Tools Subsystem - User's guide - 2nd edition
1980-04
102703287
PRIME confidential documents
1981 - 1982
102703288
Data Dictionary background
1981-11-05
102703289
Introduction to PL/P
1982-01-07
102703290
EPF functional specification
1983-04-31
102703291
P-400 Process Exchange and new protocols
1976-03-29
102703292
I/O at Prime today
1981-11-05
102703293
User's guide to magnetic tapes for information interchange
1982-04-01
102703294
PDR3059 - The PMA programmer's guide - PR1ME - Preliminary documentation release
1977-11
102703295
PR1ME computer - The Assembly Language programmer's guide
1979
102703296
CPL user's guide - DOC4302-190P -Revision 19.0
1982
102703297
Prime PL/I
1981-10-05
102703299
CPL user's guide - DOC4302-190P - Revision 19.0
1982
102703300
Prime - Instruction sets guide
1987
102703301
Prime - Assembly language - Programmer's guide
1989
102703302
PRIME Common LISP - Language reference manual
1987
102703303
DOC9473-1PA - System architecture - Reference guide - Revision 19.4
1985
102703304
DOC9474-1PA - Instruction sets guide - Revision 19.4
1985
102703305
Modula-2 - Programmer's guide
1985-11-07
102703306
DOC 7534-2LA - C user's guide - Release 19.4
1986-01
102703307
Prime - System architecture - Reference guide
1987
102703308
Memorandum
1974-07-10
