- published: 11 Mar 2013
- views: 941
The word "minicomputer" (colloquially, "mini") is a term for a class of smaller computers that evolved in the mid-1960s and sold for much less than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, the New York Times suggested a consensus definition of a minicomputer as a machine costing less than $25,000, with an input-output device such as a teleprinter and at least 4K words of memory, that is capable of running programs in a higher level language, such as Fortran or Basic. The class formed a distinct group with its own hardware architectures and operating systems.
When single-chip CPUs appeared, beginning with the Intel 4004 in 1971, the term "minicomputer" came to mean a machine that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the smallest mainframe computers and the microcomputers. The term "minicomputer" is little used today; the contemporary term for this class of system is "midrange computer", such as the higher-end SPARC, POWER and Itanium-based systems from Oracle, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
Television's an invention
Close to my heart
But I know something twice as cool
And three times as smart
Cups and pencil sharpeners
Are okay machines
But this one blows them all away
Come see what I mean
You gotta see my new computer
Come and check it out
I'm gonna show you
Ah - ha - ha
Just what it's all about
First we gotta turn it on
By flipping the switch
Now you get to see exactly
Which thing is which
Computers need ????
On what they should do
They gotta take their orders
From the keyboard and you
You gotta see my new computer
Come and check it out
I'm gonna show you
Ah - ha - ha
Just what it's all about
Pressing on the keys
Talk to the machine
And every key you push
You're changing pictures on the screen
Tapping on that space bar
Moving to the beat
Rolling on the track ball
Computing with our feet
Watch the cursor moving
Hear the disk drive groovin'
You gotta see my new computer
Come and check it out
I'm gonna show you
Ah - ha - ha
Just what it's all about
You gotta see my new computer
Come and check it out
I'm gonna show you
Ah - ha - ha
Just what it's all about