Origin of the term minicomputer (was Re: PDP-1 as minicomputer

To go totally off-topic. there was a version of the Mini (car) with an automatic transmission. The transmisison was built in the engine oil sump, and used the engine oil as the hydraulic fluid. Apparently it didn't work all that well, but I think it's amazing they got it to work at all... [FWIW, the full, official Mini workshop manual is on my bookshelf...] Ias a 'MIDIcomputer' a computer with a certain current-loop serial interface? You know, like the Atari ST ? (Sorry, could NOT resist) You'rs asking _that_ on classiccmp? Well, cosnidiering I own between 10 and 20 minicomoputers and not one miniskirt I would think the answer for me is obvious. Now, if you want to ask about what you find inside a minicomputer .vs. what you find inside a miniskirt, well, that's a different question. But I think I'd still go for the former... I was thinking about the commonly used definitions of 'minicomputer' and 'microcomputer. As with all such divisions, there are grey areas.... For example : What do you consider the DPP11/23 and PDP11/73 to be? (Remember the CPU is a small number of custom LSI chips). And what about the Pro 350 and Pro 380 machines. Point being, they're desktop boxes abotu the size of a PC, but have the same CPU chips as the 11/23 and 11/73 (F11 and J11 chipsets) And what about my favourite, the HP9830? It's a desktop all-in-one machine. But the CPU is lots of small chips. There are 4 boards which are often considered to be the CPU boards, conitaing about 20 chips each, mostlu TTL, but with 9 256*4 PROMs. And there are some bits of the CPU (such as the memroy address and data registers) on other PCBs in the machine/ So perhaps 100 chips for the CPU in total, the most complex being things like dual 8-bit SISO shift registers, or the PROMs. By most defintions. that's a minicomputer, but it sure feels strange calling it one... -tony