5.2 Day 2 Computer introduction continued

Wide range of different capabilities aimed at different users. Different markets. No longer clear divisions between different categories. "Key" attributes listed. Not absolute definitions. A system is better defined by how the system is used than the hardware.

• PC systems.
  • Use: Individual
  • RAM: 1 Mbyte - 64 Mbyte RAM
  • Disk: 1-2 Drives, 40 Mbyte to 2 Gbyte
  • CD-ROM Drive (often)
  • I/O: Individual use Display/Printer, often networked
• File Servers
  • Use: Work group, Small Company
  • RAM: 16 Mbyte - 128 Mbyte RAM
  • Disk: 1-20 Drives, 1 Gbyte to 20 Gbyte
  • CD-ROM drives (sometimes many 20+)
  • I/O: Good network connection, may use shared Display & Printer
• (Engineering) Workstations
  • Use: One Individual at a time
  • RAM: 32 Mbyte - 256 Mbyte RAM
  • Disk: 1-2 Drives, 400 Mbyte to 4 Gbyte
  • I/O: Individual use Display/Printer, often networked
  • FAST Floating point & High Definition Displays
• Minicomputers Once the first "small computers". Made by DEC, DG, HP, IBM, and others. These have a price range from about $10,000 to $500,000. These have also been used for computational intensive applications and medium size data bases.
  • Use: Groups by timesharing
  • RAM: 32 Mbyte - 1 Gbyte RAM
  • Disk: 2-30 Drives, 600 Mbyte to 60 Gbyte
  • I/O: System console often shared, usually networked
  • User interface: Terminals
• Mainframe computers 9/3/96

  Traditional raised floor systems. These systems may not be computationally as fast as a workstation, but are very "transaction" oriented. Often used for inventory, payroll, accounting, reservation systems, billing. Some systems have enhanced floating point systems.

  • Use: Corporations
  • RAM: 64 Mbyte RAM 10 Gbyte
  • Disk: 20 - 100s Drives, 10 Gbyte to 1000s Gbyte
  • I/O: Fast durable printers, Tape drives. May be on only the corporate network. Shared consoles common. System backup a major issue.
• Super computers Physically "small". Poor I/O capabilities, perhaps none on the main processor. All I/O may be handled by auxiliary processors. Very high memory bandwidth and computational ability. Used in modeling. Vector processing common. Multi-processor common. $5 Million+.
  • Use: Modeling and Simulation
  • RAM: 512 Mbyte - 32 Gbyte RAM
  • Disk: Perhaps none, Perhaps large disk arrays
  • I/O: Perhaps none, High speed network connection, shaired memory
  • Terminals: Workstations & X terminals
  • Vector and massivly parallel architectures
  • HIGH cost to run