00100	                                DRAFT
00200	
00300	To: Computer Science Department
00400	From: Computer Facilities Committee
00500	Subject: Console Facilities for the Department
00600	
00700	
00800		This committee is charged with determining the needs  of  the
00900	Computer  Science  Department  for  computation  facilities  and with
01000	proposing ways of meeting these needs.
01100	
01200		At present Stanford  has  adequate  computing  facilities  in
01300	terms  of  multiplications  per month, and CSD gets its fair share of
01400	these  multiplications.   Some  of  the  projects   have   additional
01500	computing  needs  and are looking to their sponsors for the resources
01600	to meet them.
01700	
01800		The main  weaknesses  in  the  facilities  available  to  the
01900	department are in on-line interaction and graphics.
02000	
02100		In  order to meet these needs, we propose that the department
02200	undertake to acquire a multi-console CRT terminal system meeting  the
02300	following specifications:
02400	
02500		1.  The  system  start  with  at  least  16  consoles  and be
02600	expandable to at least 32.  Larger possibilities for expansion should
02700	be  considered  a  virtue  in  any  proposals  we  may  receive  from
02800	manufacturers. This number will provide for the needs of the  faculty
02900	and  graduate students of the Department, but will not permit the use
03000	of console facilities by large courses.  If the money can  be  found,
03100	we  might try to go to a large system immediately, but otherwise, the
03200	basic system should be so designed that a compatible large system  is
03300	reasonable.  In  our  opinion,  128  consoles may be adequate for our
03400	teaching load provided the students  only  do  programming,  but  not
03500	report preparation, and we do not use CAI.
03600	
03700		2.  The  system  should  allow  any  user to communicate with
03800	either the 360/67 in the computation center and the PDP-10 system  at
03900	the  Artificial Intelligence Project.  It should be able to go out on
04000	telephone lines to other facilities that may be available and  should
04100	have  access to the ARPA network either through the AI Project IMP or
04200	through the projected IMP of the Computation Center.
04300	
04400		3. The system should include a line printer in  either  Polya
04500	or Serra or both capable of printing text and graphics.
04600	
04700		4.  The  character  set allowed should include lower case and
04800	preferably allow arbitrary character sets.   Graphic  capability  for
04900	the terminals is highly desirable.
05000	
05100	
05200		One possible system is a System Concepts Delta  6  controlled
05300	by  a  PDP-11 computer with one or two A.B Dick Videojet printers and
05400	9600 baud lines connecting  the  PDP-11  to  the  PDP-10  and  360/67
05500	computers.  Here is a possible budget for such a system.
05600	
05700	1	SC-6 controller		at 20K			$20K 3
05800	32	SC-6 consoles		at 1.2K			39K
05900	1	Videojet printer	at 8K			8K
06000	1	PDP-11/45 computer	at 10K			10K
06050	4	high speed modems	at 5K			 20K
06100	1	interface to PDP-10	at 5K			5K
06200	1	interface to PDP-11
06300		already connected to
06400		360/67			at 5K			5K
06500		assorted interfacing	at 5K			5K
06600		connection of consoles
06700		to PDP-11		at 5K			5K
06800	
06900	Total initial hardware costs				107K
07000	
07100		The  system should be maintainable at a cost of 15 to 20K per
07200	year.  This cost includes one engineer with some software competence,
07300	but  working mainly as a hardware fixer.  It assumes that much of the
07400	work in adding and maintaining new software features will be done  by
07500	students in the department.
07600	
07700		Mentioning  the SC Delta 6 is not intended to suggest that an
07800	investigation has established that this is the best solution.  It  is
07900	merely  intended  to  supply  an  existence theorem with more or less
08000	known prices.  Other possibilities are a Data Disc system  like  that
08100	used  at  the  AI  Lab  or a system based on the Corning plasma panel
08200	about which Peter Wiener of Yale has had optimistic  things  to  say.
08300	(We   should  carefully  follow  Yale's  experience  in  acquiring  a
08400	multi-console  display  system  for   the   University.   They   have
08500	substantial university funding (500K, I think) and also a large grant
08600	from the Sloan Foundation.
08700	
08800	
08900	FINANCES
09000	
09100		Basically,  I  think  we should ask the University to pay for
09200	the multi-console system as a laboratory facility  for  the  Computer
09300	Science Department.  I think that the AI project could justify paying
09400	part of the cost in order to strengthen our link with the rest of the
09500	Department,  but  I  am sure ARPA wouldn't finance most of it.  Other
09600	projects could pay  for  consoles  for  their  faculty  and  graduate
09700	students.   If  we  could  get started, it might not be difficult for
09800	projects to put console costs into their budgets.  We might  be  able
09900	to get started for as little as 50K.
10000	
10100		The justification for the University paying for the system is
10200	that a console system is a basic part of the cost of running a modern
10300	computer  science  department  just  as is a budget for computer time
10400	itself.  Resources soon to be available such as the resources on  the
10500	ARPA  Net  will  require consoles for their use, and computer courses
10600	really require console use.
10605	
10610		It would be worthwhile to inquire  into  the  progress  other
10615	schools  are  making  in  acquiring  on-line  facilities.   Carnegie,
10620	Dartmouth, and Yale are already far ahead of Stanford.
10700	
10800		I think that the CSD facilities committee with the advice  of
10900	others in the department should do the following:
11000	
11100		1. Make a preliminary survey of what is available.
11200	
11300		2.  Draw up a specification including a Request for Proposals
11400	to manufacturers of display equipment.
11500	
11600		3. Present this proposal to the Department and revise  it  in
11700	accordance with the Department's wishes.
11800	
11900		4. Help the Department negotiate with the University and with
12000	the Projects for funding.  The immediate object will be  to  get  the
12100	University to guarantee an initial system.
12200	
12300		5.  Send  the  RFP to manufacturers, negotiate with them, and
12400	choose one or more contractors.
12500	
12600		6. Arrange for the in-house part of the initial software  and
12700	interfacing.
12800	
12900		7.  Present a proposal to the Department for how the facility
13000	is to be run.
13100	
13200		8. Divvy up the first batch of consoles.
13300	
13400		9. Make a graceful exit.