HISTORY OF DDP-19 DDP-116 DDP-124 2898550 570000 The first considered to be minicomputers, CCC 160 DDP-25 DDP-316 DDP-416 the DEC PDP-1 and the CDC 160A, were intro- 156250 2500000 CDC DDP-24 160A DDP-224 DDP-516 duced in 1960, but the actual term was not applied to 1000000 156250 525000 1041666 computers until 1970: In the era of the miniskirt and NOVA NOVA 800 NOVA 2 ECLIPSE S/100 NOVA 3 NOVA 4 ECLIPSE MV/8000 ECLIPSE MV/4000 ECLIPSE MV/7899 the Mini Cooper automobile, the PDP-8/e became DATA GENERAL 1000000 1250000 1250000 2500000 1818182 4545454 5000000 3125000 the first machine to be labeled a . The NOVA 1200 NOVA 1220 NOVA 840 ECLIPSE MV/10000 ECLIPSE MV/15000 term has been applied in retrospect to a 833333 1250000 7142857 11764706 SUPER NOVA that fits the following general guidelines: It is intended 1250000 for a single user or small group of users, it is physically PDC 808 208 ALPHA 8 ALPHA LSI LSI 3 LSI 4 SCOUT COMPUTER small (at least compared to a mainframe system), and PDC 816 216 808 ALPHA 16 NAKED MINI LSI 2 LSI 05 LSI 90 sells for a fraction of the price of a mainframe (often AUTOMATION 125000 625000 6666666 at least an order of magnitude less). Minicomputers PDP-4 LINC-8 PDP-8I PDP-11/20 PDP-11/10 PDP-11/03 PDP-11/34 PDP-11/23 PDP-11/24 VAX-11/730 PDP-11/73 VAX 8200 PDP-11/83 VAX 6000 PDP-11/93 VAX 7000 VAX 4000 MODEL 108 were a separate cabinet that communicated with the DEC 111111 625000 666667 833333 6450000 1111111 2222222 3333333 1333333 3703704 15000000 5000000 18000000 35714286 20000000 170900000 100000000 Digital Equipment Company user through a teleprinter or video terminal; later, the PDP-1 PDP-7 PDP-8S PDP-8L PDP-8E PDP-11/45 PDP-11/70 PDP-11/60 VAX-11/725 PDP-11/53 VAX 6300 PDP-11/94 terms “” and “” would 200000 571428 125000 625000 833333 1000000 3333333 4000000 3703704 15000000 16666666 20000000 apply to machines with integrated video interface and PDP-5 PDP-9 PDP-9L PDP-15 PDP-8M PDP-16/76 PDP-8A VAX-11/780 VAX-11/750 VAX-11/785 VAX 8800 VAX 6200 VAX 10000 VAX 4000 MODEL 705A 166667 1000000 666667 2500000 833333 2500000 666667 5000000 3125000 7518796 22222222 12500000 90909090 111111111 a directly-connected keyboard. PDP-8 PDP-11/55 PDP-11/04 VAX-11/782 VAX 8650 PDP-11/84 VAX 4000 VAX 4000 MODEL 700A 625000 3333333 3333333 5000000 18181818 18000000 35714286 100000000 As market demands for computing power grew, mini- PDP-12 PDP-11/40 PDP-15/XVM PDP-11/44 VAX 8600 VAX 8250 VAX 9000 computers soon seemed less “mini”, with some 625000 7142857 1000000 5555556 12500000 6250000 62500000 weighing hundreds of pounds and drawing consider- 2116-A 2114-A 2100 21MX 1000 MODEL 80 able power. New categories such as “supermini” ap- HP 625000 1020408 peared in the trade press to describe these machines 2115-A 2114-B 2114-C 3000 3000CX 3000-LL 1000 1000A 500000 500000 5712486 5712486 571486 571486 that often served a large number of people in an oce or academic department. By comparison, mainframe HUGHES HCM-201 H330 HCM-205 HCM-231 computers supported a hundred users or more, HCM-202 H3118 H3324 HM4118 H4400 HDFM through both timesharing and batch-processing ser- vices. 1130 1800 SYSTEM/360 MODEL 20 SYSTEM/3 MODEL 10 SYSTEM/3 MODEL 15 IBM 277778 500000 277778 657895 657895 The first microprocessor-based systems were often International Business Machines SYSTEM/7 SYSTEM/3 MODEL 8 still referred to as minicomputers, and products from 2500000 657895 companies such as DEC tried to maintain the aes- MODEL 2 MODEL 5 MODEL 70 MODEL 50 7/16 8/32 thetic of their long-successful product lines. The INTERDATA 333333 1000000 1000000 3333333 success of products like the Altair 8800 and Apple II MODEL 3 MODEL 15 MODEL 80 MODEL 55 5/16 6/16 quickly defined a new and distinct class of computers, 555556 and by the end of the 1980s minicomputers of what- MODEL 4 MODEL 1 MODEL 74 MODEL 85 7/32 8/16 ever construction were passing into history. 666667 1000000 1333333 1333333 SYSTEM 10 300 400 450 750 DIGITAL SCIENTIFIC 1666667 1666667 SINGER META 4 ND 812 SYSTEM TEN 110-1,3,5 550 KEY NUCLEAR DATA 12000000 500000 PRIME SYSTEM IV/70 200 SYSTEM TEN 110-4 500 650 COMPUTER HUGHES RAYTHEON 500000 1666667 1666667 AUTOMATION IBM SEL 703 706 CCC RAYTHEON 571429 1111111 CDC INTERDATA 250 440 520 RAC-230 RAC-251 404 RDS-500 PACKARD BELL DATA GENERAL DIGITAL SCIENTIFIC SDS RAC-250 SINGER VARIAN DEC FOUR PHASE 810-A 840-MP 980 980B SEL 32 NUCLEAR DATA BUNKER-RAMO SEL 571429 1000000 4000000 1666667 HP PRIME MICRODATA 820 810-B 86 960 GRI COMPUTER TEXAS 840-A 1333333 1666667 1000000 INSTRUMENTS 571429 88 9400 980A 960B CAN BE SEEN IN PB 250 610 611 622 I V-73 V-70 LIVING COMPUTER MUSEUM COLLETION PACKARD BELL 1536000 620 612 PROCESSOR SPEED SDS MEASURED IN INSTRUCTIONS PER SECOND VARIAN PB 440 SIGMA 2 520 I 620 I 620 F V-75 200000 333333 666667 555556 1333333 3333333 300 133 400 BR-1018 1600 BUNKER-RAMO 156300 1000000 625000 1000000 MICRODATA SLOW MEDIUM FAST SUPERSONIC 130 230 340 BRIC-1 800 GRI-909 GRI-99 3200 GRI COMPUTER 333333 478000 909090 1136363 2272727 3333333

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