I look at it from the perspective of "what was it designed to do?"
If it was designed to sit on or beside a desktop with a single user (a big
clue is, does it have a memory mapped graphics system), then it's probably
a micro or a workstation. All PCs, All Macs, and so forth fall into this
category. With the right OS a micro can do the WORK of a small mini, but it's
still a micro.
If it was designed to sit in a wiring closet or a cubical and service multiple
users either via xwindows, dumb terminals, file service, printer service, and
so on, and can support a number of users simultaniously, and if it has a
serial port for communicating with its console, it's probably a mini.
All Vaxen, and I'd say all PDP11s (never met one with a memory mapped screen)
and so on are minis.
If it has the same qualifications as a mini, but takes up more than say 4 racks,
*requires* air conditioning, it's a mainframe. An additional clue - mainframes
usually don't speak unix. A mainframe does exactly the same job as a mini,
except that it's much larger and can handle many more users.
My reasoning for this division is something Steve Wozniac is supposed to have
said, that really all the early "micros" before the apple were just small
minis - they handled like minis, they interacted like mini's. With the advent
of the memory mapped, integrated graphics system, the micro became a class unto
itself.,
--
Jim Strickland
jim_at_calico.litterbox.com
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Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
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Received on Tue Sep 08 1998 - 20:01:51 BST