Any Pr1me fans out there?

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Tue Sep 8 19:11:03 1998

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, Allison J Parent wrote:

>
> < Oh boy, taxonomy again! OK, here's my stab:
> <
> < Microprocessor: a single-chip CPU.
>
> What if the cpu is multiple chips aka LSI-11?

I don't know why you would want to class that as a MPU. Most of these
terms were invented because a new breed came into existance and it needed
a new name to distinguish it from what came before. "Microprocessor"
was coined to celebrate a logic integration landmark: a computer on a
single chip.

> < Microcomputer: a computer based on a single microprocessor.
>
> What if there are several performing different tasks in the same box.

OK, Microcomputer: a computer that runs applications on a single
microprocessor.

I really don't know what to call a SMP PC, though. Microsupercomputer?

> < Workstation: a computer designed to run Unix with a bitmapped display.
>
> What if it's a VAX running VMS? Yes the VS3100s were definatly
> workststions.

OK, Workstation: a computer with a bitmapped display designed to run a
non-Microsoft multitasking OS.

> < Minicomputer: a timesharing computer that can support fewer than 100
> < simultaneous users.
>
> VAX and minicomputer that could and often did have more than 100 users.

OK, Minicomputer: a general purpose computer without a memory-mapped
display, smaller than a mainframe.

> < Mainframe: a timesharing computer than can support 100 or more users
> < simultaneously.
>
> Generally big iron and most that had that distinction where physically
> large. AKA univac 1180.

OK, Mainframe: a general purpose computer without a memory-mapped display
that weighs at least one ton.

> < Embedded computer: a computer that requires cross-development in order t
> < reprogram.
>
> Maybe, or it can be a single board computer installed into a dedicated
> application. Generally term embedded means dedicated to a task(or set of
> tasks). One possible embedded machine is a national Nibble Basic or
> intel 8052ah (basic or forth) chip with a keyboard, LCD and EEPROM.

Some people use PC's as dedicated controllers, but that doesn't make
a PC an embedded computer in my mind. Cross-development seems to be the
only common factor when people talk about embedded, although there are
embedded environments, such as QNX, that support native development.

-- Doug
Received on Tue Sep 08 1998 - 19:11:03 BST