cant help on core rope. My memory of LCDs is they were way too late for the AGC and the basic AGC design used either LEDs or Lamps in a 7 segment format. That statement I believe is in error. While the logic used was RTL and a single family type the logic elements for that family by the mid 60s were more diverse than just a two input NOR. My junkbox contains parts from the era and includes JK-FF, three input nor, inverter buffers, and three wide NOR parts. It is true that the 2input NOR is the fundamental RTL logic building block there was nothing to limit it to 2,3 or 4 inputs for the die size of the time other than the hermetic flat packs of the day were typically 8/10/12 pins. Examples of mid 60s RTL. ul900 buffer inverter uL914 dual two input nor uL923 jk-ff uL925 dual 2 input nor gate expander (914 withput collector resistor). These were widely available and purchaseable by hobbists in 1967 at reasonable prices, typically under $2.00US. Most ham/electronics magazines had DMM and frequency counter projects using these parts by or during 1968. History of transistor computers by that time frame had already proven that a minimal set of logic blocks made general computer design easier. The TX1 and TX2 could stand as foundation machines on that basis alone. Those bocks were an inverter(buffer), NOR or NAND, and a register (FF). Any more specialized parts were likely used for core or other very limited use parts of a computer. RTL is old, some of the peices I have are now reaching 40! Allison