Ferranti Perseus

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Ferranti Perseus Ferranti Perseus (1).jpg
Ferranti Perseus

Perseus was a vacuum tube (valve) computer built by Ferranti Ltd of Great Britain. It was a development of the Ferranti Pegasus computer for large-scale data processing. [1] Perseus, which was one of Ferranti's computer systems that included Orion and Sirius, [2] was the company's first production machine marketed towards commercial users. [3] The system used the automatic checking method. [1] Two were sold, both to overseas insurance companies in 1959. [4]

Contents

Design

Perseus has two components that functioned independently of each other. The first was the central computer – the processing unit that handled data processing and commercial work. [1] The second was the unit for printing from half-inch magnetic tape. [1] The design aim of Perseus was to enable large-scale data-processing, rather than scientific computing. It used the same electronic technology as the Ferranti Pegasus, similarly engineered. The envisaged applications would involve vast amounts of file data, for which 1/2" magnetic tape was provided. The word length was 72 bits, with 160 words of random-access memory provided by single-word nickel acoustic delay lines. Unlike Pegasus with its magnetic drum, further internal store was provided by 864, 16-word delay lines. [5] Large-scale data input was provided by punched card readers available for both round- and rectangular-hole cards. Data output was via magnetic tape to an off-line unit equipped with 300 lines per minute Samastronic line printers. [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hunt 1959.
  2. Reilly, Edwin D. (2003). Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp.  98. ISBN   1573565210.
  3. Gandy, Anthony (2012). The Early Computer Industry: Limitations of Scale and Scope. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 175. ISBN   9780230389106.
  4. "Ferranti", Our Computer Heritage Project, Computer Conservation Society, Pegasus, Perseus and Sirius: Delivery List, 2010
  5. Hunt 1959, p. 68.
  6. De Kerf 1959, p. 34.

Bibliography