History of Minicomputers
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HISTORY OF MINICOMPUTERS DDP-19 DDP-116 DDP-124 2898550 570000 The first computers 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 minicomputer. The NOVA 1200 NOVA 1220 NOVA 840 ECLIPSE MV/10000 ECLIPSE MV/15000 term has been applied in retrospect to a computer 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 “workstation” and “personal computer” 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 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 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 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996.