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] It had a processing unit which used many of the same parts as Pegasus and an off-line unit for printing on a line printer from half-inch magnetic tape. Two were sold, both to overseas insurance companies in 1959.[2]

Design

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.[3] 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.[4]

References

Bibliography

  • De Kerf, Joseph L. F. (April 1959), A Survey of British Digital Computers (Part 2) (PDF), 8 (4), Computers and Automation, pp. 34–36
  • Hunt, P. M. (1 January 1959), "The Ferranti Perseus Data-Processing System" (PDF), The Computer Journal, 2 (2): 68–75
  • Lavington, Simon Hugh (1980), Early British Computers: The Story of Vintage Computers and the People who Built Them, Manchester University Press, ISBN 9780719008108
  • Computer Conservation Society (2010), Our Computer Heritage Project: Ferranti Pegasus, Perseus and Sirius, Computer Conservation Society
  • Anon (5 March 1959), "To compute Swedish premiums", New Scientist, Reed Business Information


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