The Rice Institute Computer, also known as the Rice Computer[1] or R1, was a 54-bit tagged architecture[2] digital computer built during 1958–1961[3] (partially operational beginning in 1959) on the campus of Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States.
The system initially used vacuum tubes and semiconductor diodes for its logic circuits; some later peripherals were built in solid-state emitter-coupled logic.
[4] A copy of the machine called OSAGE was built and operated at the University of Oklahoma.
Originally a cathode ray tube or "Williams tube" array, RCA core memory was introduced in 1966, followed by Ampex core memory in 1967.
Following those two upgrades, the R1 had reached its full 32k word capacity, although the original electrostatic memory was soon decommissioned due to falling reliability in its old age.