DEUCE - Revision history

Jnc: +Good quote about it

2024-03-18T15:06:39Z

+Good quote about it

Jnc: /* External links */ + several more archived sites

2024-03-18T15:01:44Z

‎External links: + several more archived sites

Jnc: Fairly complete

2024-03-18T01:35:12Z

Fairly complete

New page

The '''DEUCE''' was a product version of the [[Pilot ACE]], produced by [[English Electric Computers|English Electric]], which had assisted on the building of the Pilot ACE. No less than 33 were built; the last was sold in 1962. Roughly 20 were still running in 1965; the last operational DEUCE was shut down in 1967 (possibly 1971; sources differ).

The changes from the Pilot ACE were minor; mostly in the numbers of the various [[main memory]] [[delay line]]s. The DEUCE had 12 long ones (instead of 11), 4 single word lines, 3 doubles, and 2 quads (newly introduced with the DEUCE). It did contain more [[vacuum tube]]s than the Pilot ACE (in part because the DEUCE had a hardware divide unit) - 1,450, instead of around 1,000. The packaging was entirely different, and much more finished.

[[Input/output]] used a [[printer]], as well as the [[punched card]]s of the Pilot ACE; [[magnetic tape drive]]s and a [[paper tape]] reader and punch were also available. The Mark II DEUCE had [[International Business Machines|IBM]] card equipment, which was superior. The DEUCE also had a [[drum]], holding 256 [[track]]s, each containing 32 words - the same size as the large delay lines. The Mark IA and Mark IIA had seven extra of the large delay lines.

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==Further reading==

* Alan Turing, B. E. Carpenter (editor), R. W. Doran (editor), ''A. M. Turing's ACE report of 1946 and other papers'', MIT Press/Tomash, Cambridge/Los Angeles, 1986 - brief notes about the DEUCE are in the last document re-printed herein
* David M. Yates, ''Turing's Legacy: A History of Computing at the National Physical Laboratory 1945-1995'', Science Museum, London, 1997 - the DEUCE is covered on pp. 40-46
* B. Jack Copeland (editor), [https://dokumen.tips/documents/alan-turings-automatic-computing-engine.html ''Alan Turing's Automatic Computing Engine: The Master Codebreaker's Struggle to Build the Modern Computer''], Oxford University, Oxford, 2005 - essays from a number of people, including one covering the DEUCE in some detail

==External links==

* [https://www.ourcomputerheritage.org/Maincomp/Eel/ccs-n1x2.pdf Architecture of the English Electric DEUCE computer]
* [https://www.ourcomputerheritage.org/Maincomp/Eel/ccs-n1x3.pdf Instruction set of the English Electric DEUCE]
* [https://www.ourcomputerheritage.org/Maincomp/Eel/ccs-n1x1.pdf List of probable English Electric DEUCE computer deliveries]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212624/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/ English Electric D.E.U.C.E.] - a vast amount of material
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212515/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/navigation.html Navigating the DEUCE Manuals]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212738/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/pm.htm English Electric Deuce Programming Manual]
*** [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212515/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/ldmpart1.html English Electric Deuce Logical Design Manual]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20220705060051/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/deucepix/photoindex.htm English Electric DEUCE Photo Gallery]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160512215248/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/deuceplus/brochures/brochures.html English Electric DEUCE Sales Brochures]
* [https://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/archive/graphics/deuce.html English Electric DEUCE] - image

[[Category: Early Computers]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The '''DEUCE''' was a product version of the [[Pilot ACE]], produced by [[English Electric Computers|English Electric]], which had assisted on the building of the Pilot ACE. No less than 33 were built; the last was sold in 1962. Roughly 20 were still running in 1965; the last operational DEUCE was shut down in 1967 (possibly 1971; sources differ).
+The '''DEUCE''' was a product version of the [[Pilot ACE]], produced by [[English Electric Computers|English Electric]], which had assisted on the building of the Pilot ACE. It was aptly described by one user as "DEUCE has a fair claim to being, for programmers, the most complicated computer ever put into general production". No less than 33 were built; the last was sold in 1962. Roughly 20 were still running in 1965; the last operational DEUCE was shut down in 1967 (possibly 1971; sources differ).
-The changes from the Pilot ACE were minor; mostly in the numbers of the various [[main memory]] [[delay line]]s. The DEUCE had 12 long ones (instead of 11), 4 single word lines, 3 doubles, and 2 quads (newly introduced with the DEUCE). It did contain more [[vacuum tube]]s than the Pilot ACE (in part because the DEUCE had a hardware divide unit) - 1,450, instead of around 1,000. The packaging was entirely different, and much more finished.
+The changes from the Pilot ACE were minor; mostly in the numbers of the various [[main memory]] [[delay line]]s. The DEUCE initially (in the Mark I and II) had 12 long ones (instead of 11), 4 single word lines, 3 doubles, and 2 quads (newly introduced with the DEUCE). It did contain more [[vacuum tube]]s than the Pilot ACE (in part because the DEUCE had a hardware divide unit) - 1,450, instead of around 1,000. The packaging was entirely different, and much more finished.
 [[Input/output]] used a [[printer]], as well as the [[punched card]]s of the Pilot ACE; [[magnetic tape drive]]s and a [[paper tape]] reader and punch were also available. The Mark II DEUCE had [[International Business Machines|IBM]] card equipment, which was superior. The DEUCE also had a [[drum]], holding 256 [[track]]s, each containing 32 words - the same size as the large delay lines. The Mark IA and Mark IIA had seven extra of the large delay lines.

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 *** [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212738/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/pm.htm English Electric Deuce Programming Manual]
 *** [https://web.archive.org/web/20230712212515/http://users.tpg.com.au/eedeuce/ldmpart1.html English Electric Deuce Logical Design Manual]
-** [https://web.archive.org/web/20220705060051/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/deucepix/photoindex.htm English Electric DEUCE Photo Gallery]
+* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160106225423/http://www.deucecomputer.com/index.html The English Electric DEUCE] - extensive site by someone who learned to program on a DEUCE
-** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160512215248/http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/deuceplus/brochures/brochures.html English Electric DEUCE Sales Brochures]
+** [https://web.archive.org/web/20160106065107/http://www.deucecomputer.com/deucdocs.html List of Surviving DEUCE Documents]
 * [https://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/archive/graphics/deuce.html English Electric DEUCE] - image
 [[Category: Early Computers]]