A Brief History of Residential Computing

As early as 1982 "dumb" terminals were located in a few of Residence halls and provided access to Stanford's Low Overhead Time-sharing (LOTS) computers via telephone lines and modems.

By Winter quarter DEC clusters were available in 8 houses totaling over 50 computers. Working together with Residential Education, the Computer Science department created an "Intro to Personal Computing" class that was initially offered only in the dorms.

By Fall quarter of the 85-86 academic year the Stanford University Network (SUNet) was delivered to many residence halls. Computer data and University cable TV access were now available in common rooms of these dorms.

During the Spring IBM announced its intention to donate $10 million worth of personal computer equipment to Stanford, $1 million of which would go to residential computing projects. This gift was to arrive in two phases over the next two years. Apple also provided its own smaller gift. Residence staffs were asked to draft proposals to determine whether or not their house would receive clusters. Money was allocated by Housing and Food Services to fund maintenance of this equipment.

By the time students arrived for Fall quarter, the first phase of the IBM grant was installed in 6 locations and the Apple grant was installed in 3 locations. Students were hired from within each house to serve as System Administrators to manage each cluster.

Independently, Branner started the year with a staff position known as "Computer Coordinator," shifting over a returning RA with computer expertise.

The System Administrator program proved to be successful. A new position was envisioned which functioned more like a Resident Assistant (RA) called a Resident Computer Coordinator (RCC). During Spring quarter the first RCC selection process was undertaken to find staff for the following year.

During the summer the office of Residential Education hired a full-time director to manage this rapidly growing project.

By fall the second IBM phase was installed and clusters existed in every all-frosh and four-class house for a total of about 130 workstations system-wide. Very few DECs remained. The first flock of 18 RCCs kicked off their year with a meager training session. RCCs in at least some residences taught CS 1D, an introductory course on computer use, for 1 unit of credit.

During Christmas Roble Hall was closed due to seismic instability. The complete restructuring of this house offered an opportunity to bring networking resources to each room.

During this year the RCC position was closely evaluated. The Summer was spent planning a more comprehensive training program for RCCs. This training and support would further empower the RCCs and provide them with more resources from inside and outside the University.

In fall, the Rains Graduate Apartments opened as the first residence hall to provide in-room computer connections. Computers were also provided in two clusters there making Rains the first graduate residence to have clusters. As new houses were built and old ones renovated in future years the number of in-room connections would slowly increase.

Also during the Fall, Student and Faculty needs, as well as some Apple grant opportunities, led to a plan to replace most of the IBMs with Macintosh computers during Spring quarter. Budget savings from previous years were used to help this plan along.

A residence survey completed in Winter indicated that over 50% of students own some kind of personal computer.

The Fall quarter began with 24 residence clusters consisting mainly of Macs with a few IBMs. DECs were nowhere to be found. 6 Row sites also had small pilot clusters. The RCCs became identified as a major front line consulting force for students and began to receive support from Apple, Microsoft, Claris and Farallon corporations.

Apple Computer implemented a computer trade-up program to help Stanford departments and faculty, staff and students purchase new computers. Residential computing traded up most of the Macintoshes purchased in 1989 at this time.

Residential Computing cuts 10% of its budget in second round of budget cuts. It had become clear, though, that the program needed to expand to serve all residences and that an equipment replacement budget had to be found. An expansion plan was drafted in time for budget approval in the fall of '92.

Plan to expand residential clusters into all of Stanford's residence halls and Row houses approved. Student room and board rate increased by 1% to fund expansion and to assure 3 year upgrade cycle for all cluster equipment. General Plant Improvement funds are allocated to extend the University fiber plant to all residence halls and Row houses. Office of Networking Systems to provide fiber activation equipment to houses and one 10baseT hub in each Row house to activate Row clusters. Opportunities became available to complete in-room connections in five years.

First year that all Stanford students have access to a computer cluster in their residence hall. Survey shows that just about 70% of all Stanford students own a computer. In-room connections available to over 6000 of Stanford's 9000 housed students, with approximately 1500 subscribers. New funding allows Residential Computing to undertake more software development initiatives, including networked print accounting, networked software licensing, and on-line staff selection systems utilizing the World Wide Web and SQL databases. Stanford hosts RESNET '94, the first-of-its-kind symposium dedicated to the discussion of academic information technology in college and university residence halls. 105 educators from across the nation and internationally attended.

Assimilator tested mid-year in some locations. New computers: Power Mac 7100/80???

Assimilator deployed residence-wide as an optional tool for RCCs to refresh cluster software images. New computers: Power Mac 7200/120. One Power Computing Mac-clone installed in each large dorm cluster?????

All residences now have in-room network connections? Rewiring of some dorms to port-per-pillow begins. ResComp is shifted from Student Affairs to University Libraries, although for the moment nothing changes? Print accounting now uses the Stanford Card Plan, so RCCs no longer collect money. Web authentication of print jobs introduced mid-year, allowing accounted printing from PCs (and other platforms) for the first time. KeyServer replaces home-grown Software Librarian to control software license use. New computers: Power Mac 7300/200. One Power Mac 7300/180 with PC card (so you can switch into Windows) installed in about 35 large dorm clusters.

In-room network connection fee structure changed from activation to annual. $80 for registering in Autumn, $60 in Winter, $40 in Spring or summer. No charge for moves or updates. Combined with new base funding for Networking, network hardware now on four year replacement cycle. LocalTalk removed from Rains, the last stronghold. Dorms now completely Ethernet. Connection speeds increased to 100Mbps in many residences, notably Lagunita and Stern. ResComp video created as an eleven minute introduction for new users. In December, ResComp joins with RITS (Research and Instructional Technologies Support) and part of the SUL/AIR Systems Office, to form Academic Computing (AComp). Cluster Tech program tried on a small scale Winter and Spring. CTs own and maintain the clusters, inspect them pro-actively any time of day, and are paid by stipend. RCCs focus on in-room connections and dorm programs. Print accounting for PCs introduced mid-year, using the new PDNotify client. Authentication is handled with PCLeland, so passwords are encrypted with kerberos. New computers: Power Mac G3/266, with ZIP drives and 17" monitors. Mid-year grant from Intel adds one Dell running Windows with a 21" monitor to each large dorm cluster. New Row Printers: HP 4000N.

Cluster Techs everywhere. Potter and Robinson get their own clusters, bringing the total to 75, as Frosh/Soph college takes over Adams and Schiff. First ergonomic fully adjustable tables installed in all three Sterling Quad clusters. PDNotify for Mac replaces Macintosh Authenticator mid-year, so all accounted printing is now via TCP/IP and kerberos authenticated. Meyer and Tresidder join the ResComp printing system. Print accounting consolidated onto a single spooler, a new Sun Enterprise 250. Meyer and Tresidder join the ResComp Assimilator imaging system. In-room registration system rewritten in Java. In May, ResComp moves from Wilbur to Meyer Library to be near the rest of AComp, and return that space to Housing & Dining. New computers: Power Mac G3/350, towers with no floppy drives. Dell computers transferred to Meyer, dorms all Mac again.

EV Studios 1-4 open, increasing the number of grad RCCs to 20. 19 CTs (14 Undergrad, 5 Grad) 71 RCCs (51 Undergrad, 20 Grad) Manzanita Park rewired from Thin to Cat5, leaving only Rains on Thin. All undergraduate residences now on Cat5. ResComp (the primary UNIX server) upgraded to a new Sun Enterprise 250. The ResNet conference returns home to Stanford for the first time since 1996. New computers: Power Mac G4/400. One Dell Pentium III running Windows 2000 installed in all 36 large dorm clusters.

Mirrieless gets its third RCC mid-way through renovation as the population is increased to 400. 72 RCCs (52 UGrad, 20 Grad). Number of CTs reduced to 15, with one as a supervisor? EV Hoskins cluster moves to EV 54D. Billing for in-room network connections moves to CNS bill along with phone and cable. Fee is now $9/month. In-room registration system renovated. The staff selection system and survey system are both rewritten to be expandable and configurable, allowing administrators to manage their own processes. New computers: Power Mac G4/466, Power Mac G4 Cube/450, all with CD-RW, half with flat panel LCD monitors.

Cluster Tech program abandoned in favor of old model. RCCs once again own the clusters, and Techs from the central office (who can now work some evening shifts) handle unlocking, repairing, and removing hardware. Each row house gets its own RCC, increasing the number from 10 to 36. "RowCCs," as they are sometimes called, get paid less (as they have fewer residents) and are fully integrated into the house staff management team, being selected with them. Mirrielees gets its fourth RCC as renovation is completed and the population is increased to 450. Robinson gets its own RCC, no longer sharing with Potter. In a pilot, Yost gets its own RCC, no longer sharing two RCCs with EAST and Murray. The Yost RCC will attempt to integrate the new Spanish Language focus into the RCC responsibilities. As Branner is closed for a year, total number of undergrad RCCs increases by one (for the moment). EV Studios 5 & 6 open, increasing the number of grad RCCs to 22. 101 RCCs (43 Dorm, 36 Row, 22 Grad). Rains rewiring (from ThinNet to 100Base-TX) begins, finally, as $800,000 is made available. In a pilot, Wilbur & Stern get wireless networking. A third EV cluster opens in the new Studios 5 & 6, and the old Mirrielees cluster is replaced by two new clusters, bringing the total to 77 (including the closed Branner). Printing charge increased to $0.10/page. Printing system expanded to include the libraries. In-room network connection fee increased to $10/month. New computers: PowerMac G4 towers 733 (one quarter), and Dell Optiplex GX240 Pentium 4 1.8 (three quarters), all with flat panel LCD monitors. All Clusters now have at least one PC, including Row clusters.

Roble gets its third RCC to better serve all 300 residents and the higher percentage of freshmen. Branner reopens, and the number of RCCs increases to 104 RCCs (46 Dorm, 36 Row, 22 Grad). RCC get raises to try to bring their salaries closer to room rents. With Rains and Branner rewiring completed, finally, all residences have standard Ethernet jacks. FloMo has wiring added to allow higher-speed 100Base-TX, leaving only Wilbur to be rewired. Branner gets wireless networking, with FloMo soon to follow, and Roble gets it in common areas. Row clusters get optical scanners for the first time. New OS X image on the Macs uses students' afs (leland) directories as local home folders, allowing a consistent environment on all computers. Because of a new heating system, the EV 116A cluster gets renovated, with new wiring and ergonomic tables replacing the built-in counters. The row moves to accounted printing after years of free printing (at the cost of the houses and ResComp). 47 clusters get new HP 4200N printers with duplexers. After years of planning, In-room network connection registration is automated, allowing registration directly from students' computers in their rooms, automatic entering of computer and student data, and automatic processing of requests. Average processing time drops from 9.5 hours to 15 seconds. Also, private information (name, dorm, etc.) is no longer entered into NetDB, so people can't be identified from logs of web pages they browse, and their locations can't be identified from emails they send. New computers: PowerMac G4 towers 1.25 (two thirds), and Dell Optiplex GX270 Pentium 4 2.2 (one third), all with flat panel LCD monitors.

In-room network connection fee increased to $12/month. Compensates for loss of funding for ResComp, and partially covers infrastructure costs for ITSS. Sterling Quad gets wireless coverage over the course of the fall and winter, with a mix of indoor and outdoor antennae. All residences with frosh now have at least partial wireless coverage. Winter quarter, RCCs in four dorms teach a new course, CS2c: "Intermediate Computing at Stanford." The course is a folowup to CS1c focusing on multimedia production. The sylabus is highly influenced by the RCCs involved in the pilot, and distribution expands over the next few years. In a mid-year pilot, four dorms get HP Color LaserJet 3700DN printers in addition to their black and white printers, with pages charged @ $0.50. New computers: PowerMac G5 towers dual 1.8, with 17-inch flat panel LCD monitors. New printers: HP 4200N printers with duplexers. All cluster monitors are now flat panels.

After years of planning, a new Telecommunications Fee is created to cover the costs of the data and telephone networks in the student residences. The $48/quarter fee is charged on the University Bill to all students who pay room rent. As such, there is no longer a charge for registering or keeping in-room network connections, and students may sign up freely. Registration is improved to place unregistered computers on a quarantined network where they can talk to almost no one, and proxy sites necessary to get them patched. Further, PCs are required to run a patch level screening tool to prove they have the most important security updates before they can register. Manzanita Park starts the year with wireless coverage from access points installed in its overly numerous wiring closets during the summer. EV low-rises get similar coverage gradually over the course of the year, while the mid- and high-rises get lobby coverage at least. Configured and managed APs are loaned to Row RCCs for temporary placement in locations of their choosing. Houses will receive permanent installations over the next several years. Mid-year the Suites get experimental wireless coverage from a powerful "phased array" antenna installed on the roof of Lyman. Mirrielees gets a traditional installation for summer quarter. All new printers purchased are color, with color pages @ $0.50, and black and white pages @ $0.10. Residences with color printers no longer have black and white printers as well. Spring quarter, color pages are reduced to $0.10, and double-sided printing is now the default on cluster computers.

With funding redirected from the Telecom Fee to cover infrastructure (normally the purview of cash-strapped Housing), wireless projects continue in earnest. Roble (renovated by Housing), Toyon, and the EV Studios all start the year with full wireless installations completed over the summer. With wireless added to Lagunita by the end of autumn quarter, and temporary access points distributed by RCCs in the Governor's Corner Independent Houses, all undergraduate residences now have some form of coverage. Network registration is updated to use IT Services' new Health Check Tool, part of its nascent self-registration system. This replaces ResComp's patch level screening tool and adds a slew of security checks. Telecom Fee increased to $50, as planned.

The registration system is updated to specifically accommodate handheld devices, which are becoming pervasive and only have wireless interfaces. An automated subnet housekeeping tool is deployed, to disconnect any registration that has not been used on its home network in two months, the only such system on campus. Now that registering network connections is free, many students fail to un-register when they leave, as they have no financial incentive to do so. Further, students are now assigned multiple IP addresses, so subnets laid out in 2000 with two addresses per student can fill up leaving no space for new registrations. The automated system relieves the work previously done by RCCs. Wireless projects: EV mid/high-rises, Lyman, Row Houses. Telecom Fee increased to $52, as planned.

Following a pilot over the summer of 2008 in a few residences, all residential networks are firewalled against other residences, the rest of campus, and the outside world. Students select their preferred level of protection during registration, so they can run servers, but have no protection against their neighbors. The Year begins with permanent wireless on the Row, so RCCs no longer have to sign out WAPs to place in their residents' rooms. Wireless projects: Cro(Mem), which had hotspot coverage only using wiring closets; GovCo (excluding Sterling Quad); Manzanita Park, which had WAPs only in wiring closets; EV lowrises, which had WAPs only in wiring closets and thus only partial coverage in the Oasis, now gets WAPs in the attics; Rains, which had only partial coverage using wiring closets; Mirrielees (again); Stern, which had sparse WAP placement from the initial pilot; Branner & Toyon; Wilbur, which had really sparse WAP placement from the initial pilot. During the summer of 2009, two houses of Wilbur finally get a true port-per-pillow upgrade, abandoning its cable splitters in favor of two cables going to each room ... a decade after all other dorms. The remaining houses will be completed over the following three summers. With the replacement of the last PPC machines by Intel-based 20" iMacs, and two full-time employees working on cluster software, cluster computers become dual-boot. Residents are given the option of a Mac OS or Windows environment when they log in. The last few PCs are removed from the residences and the hardware, at least, is all Mac again.

The Student Housing Master Plan goes into effect, with the opening of the Munger Graduate Residence, the conversion of Crothers & CroMem into an undergraduate complex, and the "unstuffing" of many residences (notably Branner & Toyon, Lag, and Mirrielees). Frosh are concentrated in Stern and Wilbur, with very few four-class houses remaining. RCCs and cluster computers are redistributed accordingly. Roble, Lag, GovCo, and Lyman run a year-long pilot using NAT for wireless, the ITS model in the academic buildings but with students assigned static addresses. At registration residents are given a choice between public and private wireless IP addresses, the former only being strictly necessary when running wireless servers for off campus clients. The massive wireless network is separated from the wired networks, and spans all four complexes. In an alternate approach to solving the static and roaming address shortage of a network laid out 9 years earlier, other residences are readdressed with generous helpings of public address for combined wired and wireless networks. Without any budget surplus at Residential Computing, Networking managed to scrape up funds for a couple of minor wireless infrastructure improvements: Mirrielees (yet again, adding 12 WAPs at the ends of the halls), and EV Studio 5. Pair workstations with 30" Apple Cinema Displays are installed in Lyman and Wilbur (as well as Meyer and Tresidder). Color printing starts to be phased out in the residences, but beefed up in libraries. The residential printing system, long in use in the libraries and elsewhere around campus, is extended to support print release stations and copy-cards for non-affiliates in the libraries.

Split public/private wireless is deployed to all residences at ITS' request, after student satisfaction with he pilot is more or less equivalent to that in residences that had been given more public addresses. All wireless networks and registrations are readdressed, the first project of this scale in 10 years. Over the year, to consolidate space for the public addresses used for NAT, the wired networks and registrations are readdressed as well. Wireless infrastructure plans, if funding becomes available: * Munger: WAPs inside multi-room apartments Builders did not allow Networking to place WAPs where requested, so we need to go back in now that the University has control. * EV Studios: WAPs on first and third floors Done every other floor with the wisdom of the time, revisiting was next when funding ran out. * GovCo Suites: WAPs in some or all student living rooms A long struggle with no interior public hallways, outdoor antennae and utility rooms have been insufficient. * Mirrielees: more WAPs, possibly in some or all inner student rooms Even more of a concrete bunker than most, with isolated inner rooms and a few triples on the ends. The Windows cluster image switches over to Windows 7. Telecom Fee increased for the first time in three years.