Minicomputer

For small modern computers, see Small form factor or Nettop.
Six different minicomputers (out of many more models) produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) with the year of introduction in brackets: First row: PDP-1 (1959), PDP-7 (1964), PDP-8 (1965); second row: PDP-8/E (1970), PDP-11/70 (1975), PDP-15 (1970).
Data General Nova, serial number 1, on display at the Computer History Museum

A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a type of smaller general-purpose computer developed in the mid-1960s[1][2] and sold at a much lower price than mainframe[3] and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, The New York Times suggested a consensus definition of a minicomputer as a machine costing less than US$25,000 (equivalent to $196,000 in 2023[4]), with an input-output device such as a teleprinter and at least four thousand words of memory, that is capable of running programs in a higher level language, such as Fortran or BASIC.[5]

The class formed a distinct group with its own software architectures and operating systems. Minis were designed for control, instrumentation, human interaction, and communication switching as distinct from calculation and record keeping. Many were sold indirectly to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for final end-use application. During the two-decade lifetime of the minicomputer class (1965–1985), almost 100 companies formed and only a half dozen remained.[6]

When single-chip CPU microprocessors appeared, beginning with the Intel 4004 in 1971, the term "minicomputer" came to mean a machine that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the smallest mainframe computers and the microcomputers. The term "minicomputer" is seldom used today; the contemporary term for this class of system is "midrange computer", such as the higher-end SPARC from Oracle, Power ISA from IBM, and Itanium-based systems from Hewlett-Packard.

  1. ^ Henderson, Rebecca M.; Newell, Richard G., eds. (2011). Accelerating Energy Innovation: Insights from Multiple Sectors. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0226326832.
  2. ^ Huang, Han-Way (2014). The Atmel AVR Microcontroller: MEGA and XMEGA in Assembly and C. Australia; United Kingdom: Delmar Cengage Learning. p. 4. ISBN 978-1133607298.
  3. ^ Estabrooks, Maurice (1995). Electronic technology, corporate strategy, and world transformation. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books. p. 53. ISBN 0899309690.
  4. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  5. ^ Smith, William D. (April 5, 1970). "Maxi Computers Face Mini Conflict: Mini Trend Reaching Computers". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Bell, Gordon (April 2014). "Rise and Fall of Minicomputers". Proceedings of the IEEE. 102 (4). doi:10.1109/JPROC.2014.2306257. S2CID 21352766.