15 Mar
2023
15 Mar
'23
4:02 p.m.
Still catching up.
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2023 06:39:16 +0000
From: Lars Brinkhoff via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
I believe the term minicomputer was first applied to
the PDP-8. It was kind
of retroactively applied going back to the PDP-1. Whether the PDP-10 is a
mini is sometimes hotly debated. IBM people say no, DEC peole say yes.
Lars, you have that backwards. DEC people *know* that the PDP-10 et seq. were
mainframes (with the single exception of the DECSYSTEM-2020 office computer),
while IBMers don't think anything not built by the Mother Ship is a mainframe
(if it was build after the System/360 announcement, which came 3 weeks after
the DEC announcement of the PDP-6, also a mainframe).
Rich