15 Dec
2000
15 Dec
'00
4:41 p.m.
On Fri, 15 Dec 2000, Chuck McManis wrote:
I always have liked the following:
Micro: can sit on a desk
Mini: doesn't require special power or cooling/airconditioning
Main: requires special power and cooling
I see the original poster apparently wants to classify all VAXen as either
Mini's or Main's. Sorry, but I've got VAXen that are a lot smaller than
some of my PC's/Mac's. OTOH, I wouldn't call my VAXstation 4000/VLC a
Micro, I'd call it a Workstation :^)
Now there is a definition that's gotten really grey, the difference between
a Micro, a PC, and a Workstation.
Let's face it, no one is going to come up with an answer that everyone
agrees with.
Zane
Zane
There are lots of ways to "slice" this
question. I have at various time used:
if it runs on one 110V wall socket its a micro
if it takes 220 and/or three phase its a mini
if it takes 440 and its own voltage consditioning system its a
mainframe
Then there was
if the "CPU" is one chip its a micro
if the "CPU" is multiple chips/boards its a mini
if the "CPU" is multiple cabinets its a mainframe
Things that have never worked are speed of memory and speed of computer.
You might use I/O capacity versus the compute capacity, perhaps as a
MIPS/MEGABYTE ratio. If the value is over 5 its a micro, less than five but
over 1 its a mini, and under 1 and its a mainframe.
Another obsolete classic:
Micro: you can pick it up and carry it
Mini: you need a handtruck
Mainframe: you need a forklift and a union moving crew
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com