Mini-computers is a nitch that has gone away (or
been replaced
by workstations). They were less powerful than a mainframe, but
orders of magnitude cheaper and could sit next to a persons
desk. This was more of a marketing trick to help scientists
I don't know....i don't think the IBM AS/400 fits the
mainframe definition but it is certainly larger than a micro, with
it's desk-sized case. That to me would then place it in the realm of
the mini.
The AS/400 is a weird beast, it comes in many sizes. In the lab we have
an AS/400 that is about the size of a MicroVAX II in a BA123 or 213
cabinet. I've seen AS/400's that could fill a 20x10 room (that's will
the peripherals). It's a good replacement for the System 1 and System
36 (5250 terminals). My customers seem to love them.
Never let anyone convince you that the Mainframe is dead. Many of my
customers were about to retire a lot of big iron for NT machines when
they suddenly realized that the Mainframe could play server. They then
figured out it could do a lot more. So we have come full circle so to
speak.
--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry(a)home.net