Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!tsdiag!scr1!pechter
From: pechter@scr1.UUCP (Bill Pechter)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: What is a Mainframe?
Keywords: high-performance
Message-ID: <366@scr1.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jun 89 21:29:43 GMT
References: <125@ssp1.idca.tds.philips.nl> <20752@winchester.mips.COM> <8442@june.cs.washington.edu> <4400@ficc.uu.net>
Reply-To: pechter@scr1.UUCP (Bill Pechter)
Distribution: comp.arch
Organization: CONCURRENT COMPUTER,OCEANPORT NJ
Lines: 25

In article <4400@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>I was taught that there was a fairly clear distinction between micros, minis,
>and mainframes:

A couple of amendments to cover the 1960-1985 minis...

>	Micro: CPU substantially on one chip.
        Should be CPU on a chip or "set of chips." 
        That will cover everything from the early 4 chip PDP11/03 through the 
        MicroVax and other chip-set micros. 

>	Mini: CPU on a single card.
	CPU on a card or group of cards.
	Price under $250k for the CPU.
	Minimum of 8 bit words.

>	Mainframe: CPU on multiple cards.
	Price above $250k for CPU alone.
	Minimum 32 bit words.

-- 
Bill Pechter -- Home - 103 Governors Road, Lakewood, NJ 08701 (201)370-0709
Work -- Concurrent Computer Corp., 2 Crescent Pl, MS 172, Oceanport,NJ 07757 
Phone -- (201)870-4780    Usenet  . . .  rutgers!pedsga!tsdiag!scr1!pechter
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