Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!psuvm!BOWDOIN!PMILLER From: PMILLER@BOWDOIN.BITNET (Pete Miller, Academic Computing) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.liaison Subject: Re: micro vs mini vs mainframe Message-ID: Date: 6 Feb 90 18:50:00 GMT Sender: Network Site Liaisons Reply-To: Network Site Liaisons Lines: 41 Approved: NETNEWS@PSUVM Gateway Original_To: BITNET%"liaison@marist" From: BITNET%"TOM@PENNDRLS.BITNET" "Thomas D. Denier" 6-FEB-1990 12:43:3 8.62 To: PETE MILLER - BOWDOIN COLLEGE ... A system was considered a microcomputer if the system (including external peripherals, if any) could be moved in one trip using a wheelbarrow. A system was considered a minicomputer if it could be moved under the same ground rules with a pickup truck but not with a wheelbarrow. A system was considered a mainframe if a vehicle larger than a pickup truck was needed. Another version uses this theme but suggests that if the user can be moved in one trip with a wheelbarrow, the system is a micro, ... and so on. Anyhow, more seriously, we don't have an official set of definitions here, but semi-formally we distinguish the following cases because their support requirements seem usually to be distinct: * Single-user systems -- always micros or "workstations" here; little expectation that the h/w and s/w on one will be the same as on any other; high expectation that user wants no one else to have any control over the system. Examples: individual micro in office, science department workstation. * Small, usually "locally"-dedicated, multi-user systems -- sometimes comprising a LAN of single-user systems whose users are always doing related work; higher expectation that the same h/w and s/w are used throughout the system; general acceptance that someone controls the system. Examples: cluster of micros in admissions and physical plant, even if not literally networked; cluster of PS/2s in public Academic Computer lab; separate cluster of Macs in public lab. * Large, multi-user systems -- Varied and concurrent work by unrelated people; certainty that someone controls the system.