Computer Science House
Encyclopedia
Computer Science House (CSH) is a special interest house founded in 1976 at the Rochester Institute of Technology
, made up of a group of students who share an interest in computers, community and having fun. Despite its name, students from all majors are allowed to join. CSH offers many physical and virtual resources to its members and features a collection of many projects such as Drink, "SOAP", and "DAMMIT".
, SSH
, cellphone, or a form on the house's website and 'drop' a drink. CSH currently has two drink machines and a snack machine, all of them using Tiny Internet Interface
microcontroller
s to interface with the network. Computer Science House's "Internet Coke Machine" was listed as #3 in a list of "The Ten Greatest Hacks of All Time" in PC Magazine, behind NASA's efforts to save Apollo 13
and the PDP-1
game Spacewar! (Segan 2008).
The Clipper
In 1985, several ARG (Advanced Research Group) members set out to design a 32-bit
workstation for use by CSH and the RIT community. This would create one of the most powerful computer systems for that time. They chose the state-of-the-art Clipper Module from Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation
(now Intergraph Corporation
) as a base for their computer system.
SIGGRAPH
Back in 1995, CSH had a table at a Special Interest Group for Computer GRAPHics
.
to a home-grown single CPU board. The Okee CPU board was designed by an alumnus of CSH, Frank Giuffrida, to replace the CCI Tahoe 6/32 6 board CPU boardset with a single CPU board. The CPU is based around the Motorola
68040 processor.
to the DECStation 5000
series workstations.
. These servers provide services such as web, mail, news, and SSH
.
In addition to self run servers CSH maintains its own wired and wireless networks. The wireless network is set up using enterprise WPA with a RADIUS server as the backend. The RADIUS
server authenticates users against the CSH kerberos
server.
The Research Room is used for electronics work. It is stocked with resistors, capacitors, wire, and a mess of integrated circuit
s. In addition to supplies, some of the larger tools include oscilliscopes, logic analyzer
s, power supplies, multimeter
s, and soldering iron
s.
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
, made up of a group of students who share an interest in computers, community and having fun. Despite its name, students from all majors are allowed to join. CSH offers many physical and virtual resources to its members and features a collection of many projects such as Drink, "SOAP", and "DAMMIT".
Projects
Every current CSH member completes a yearly major project. These projects help members to learn more about some technical or non-technical topic and help out CSH or the community at the same time. In addition to some of the notable projects listed here, CSH members have been a major factor in the evolution of the campus network and information services.Drink
This project allows members to log in from anywhere in the world via telnetTELNET
Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
, SSH
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
, cellphone, or a form on the house's website and 'drop' a drink. CSH currently has two drink machines and a snack machine, all of them using Tiny Internet Interface
Tiny Internet Interface
The Tiny Internet Interface or TINI for short, is a microcontroller that includes the facilities necessary to connect to the Internet. The TINI platform is a microcontroller-based development platform that executes code for embedded web servers...
microcontroller
Microcontroller
A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a typically small amount of RAM...
s to interface with the network. Computer Science House's "Internet Coke Machine" was listed as #3 in a list of "The Ten Greatest Hacks of All Time" in PC Magazine, behind NASA's efforts to save Apollo 13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
and the PDP-1
PDP-1
The PDP-1 was the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at MIT, BBN and elsewhere...
game Spacewar! (Segan 2008).
Seminar Series
Over the years CSH has run seminars on various computing technologies to educate other members and, when possible, other students at RIT.The ClipperClipper architectureThe Clipper architecture is a 32-bit RISC-like instruction set architecture designed by Fairchild Semiconductor. The architecture never enjoyed much market success, and the only computer manufacturers to create major product lines using Clipper processors were Intergraph and High Level Hardware...
Project
In 1985, several ARG (Advanced Research Group) members set out to design a 32-bit32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
workstation for use by CSH and the RIT community. This would create one of the most powerful computer systems for that time. They chose the state-of-the-art Clipper Module from Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation
Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation was a company founded by Sherman Fairchild. It was based on the East Coast of the United States, and provided research and development for flash photography equipment...
(now Intergraph Corporation
Intergraph
Intergraph Corporation is an American software development and services company. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the world. Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine and Security,...
) as a base for their computer system.
SIGGRAPHSIGGRAPHSIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
1995
Back in 1995, CSH had a table at a Special Interest Group for Computer GRAPHicsSIGGRAPH
SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
.
The Okee Project
Porting of NetBSDNetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
to a home-grown single CPU board. The Okee CPU board was designed by an alumnus of CSH, Frank Giuffrida, to replace the CCI Tahoe 6/32 6 board CPU boardset with a single CPU board. The CPU is based around the Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
68040 processor.
Porting NetBSD
Members of CSH ported NetBSDNetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
to the DECStation 5000
DECstation
The DECstation was a brand of computers used by DEC, and refers to three distinct lines of computer systems—the first released in 1978 as a word processing system, and the latter two both released in 1989. These comprised a range of computer workstations based on the MIPS architecture and a...
series workstations.
Network services
CSH runs its own servers. Due to its small budget, most of the servers are provided by donations. Currently there are over 20 different servers running in the CSH server roomServer room
A server room is a room that houses mainly computer servers. In information technology circles, the term is generally used for smaller arrangements of servers; larger groups of servers are housed in data centers...
. These servers provide services such as web, mail, news, and SSH
Secure Shell
Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...
.
In addition to self run servers CSH maintains its own wired and wireless networks. The wireless network is set up using enterprise WPA with a RADIUS server as the backend. The RADIUS
RADIUS
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management for computers to connect and use a network service...
server authenticates users against the CSH kerberos
Kerberos protocol
Kerberos is a computer network authentication protocol which works on the basis of "tickets" to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed primarily at a client–server model, and it provides mutual...
server.
Special purpose rooms
CSH has project and research rooms stocked with tools and supplies. The Project Room contains tools for constructing objects made of wood, metal, and plastic. The larger tools in the Project Room include a table saw, a circular saw, a jigsaw, a drill press, and a cordless drill.The Research Room is used for electronics work. It is stocked with resistors, capacitors, wire, and a mess of integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s. In addition to supplies, some of the larger tools include oscilliscopes, logic analyzer
Logic analyzer
A logic analyzer is an electronic instrument which displays signals in a digital circuit. A logic analyzer may convert the captured data into timing diagrams, protocol decodes, state machine traces, assembly language, or correlate assembly with source-level software.Presently, there are three...
s, power supplies, multimeter
Multimeter
A multimeter or a multitester, also known as a VOM , is an electronic measuring instrument that combines several measurement functions in one unit. A typical multimeter may include features such as the ability to measure voltage, current and resistance...
s, and soldering iron
Soldering iron
A soldering iron is a hand tool most commonly used in soldering. It supplies heat to melt the solder so that it can flow into the joint between two workpieces.A soldering iron is composed of a heated metal tip and an insulated handle...
s.
Community
In addition to all of the technical work that CSH does, they also have a strong social atmosphere. Movie nights are held often, and annual events such as Welcome Back and Holiday Dinner help to spice things up.Trivia
- CSH was Yahoo! Internet LifeYahoo! Internet LifeYahoo! Internet Life was a monthly magazine published by Ziff-Davis, which licensed the name from Yahoo!, the well-known web portal and search engine website. It was created and launched by G. Barry Golson, the former executive editor of Playboy and TV Guide.It dealt with the emerging Internet and...
's most wired dorm of 1999 - CSH participated in RIT ROCS (Reaching Out for Community Service) 2005
- CSH has three networked vending machines