Minicomputer

Minicomputers are a largely obsolete class of multi-user computers which
made up the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest
multi-user systems (mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user
systems (microcomputers or personal computers)

The term evolved in the 1960s to describe the "small" Third Generation
computers that became possible with the use of the newly invented integrated
circuit technology. They usually took up one or a few cabinets, compared
with mainframes that would usually fill a room. The first successful
minicomputer was Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-8, that cost from
$16,000 when launched in 1964.

As microcomputers developed in the 1970s and 80s, minicomputers filled the
mid-range area between low powered microcomputers and high capacity
mainframes. At the time microcomputers were single-user, relatively simple
machines running simple program-launcher operating systems like CP/M or
MS-DOS, while minis were much more powerful systems that ran full
multi-user, multitasking operating systems like VMS and Unix. The classical
mini was a 16-bit computer, while the emerging higher performance 32-bit
minis were often referred to as superminis.

The decline of the Minicomputer

Today at the turn of the millenium few minicomputers are still in use,
having been overtaken by Fourth Generation computers built using a more
robust version of the microprocessor technology that is used in personal
computers. These are referred to as "servers", taking the name from the
server software that they run (typically file server and back-end database
software, including web server software).

The decline of the minis happened due to the lower cost of microprocessor
based hardware, the emergence of inexpensive and easily deployable local
area network systems, and the desire of end-users to be less reliant on
inflexible minicomputer manufacturers and IT departments / "data centers"
– with the result that minicomputers and dumb terminals were replaced
by networked workstations and PCs in the latter half of the 1980s.

During the 1990s the change from minicomputers to inexpensive PC networks
was cemented by the development of several versions of Unix to run on the
Intel x86 microprocessor architecture, including Solaris, Linux and
FreeBSD/NetBSD. Also, the Microsoft Windows series of operating systems now
includes server versions that support preemptive multitasking and other
features required for servers, beginning with Windows NT. Significantly,
Windows NT is largely based on the operating system DEC VMS, originally
developed for the VAX minicomputer in the 1970s.

Several pioneering computer companies first built minicomputers, such as
DEC, Data General, and Hewlett-Packard (HP) (who now refers to its HP3000
minicomputers as "servers" rather than "minicomputers"). And although
today's PCs and servers are clearly microcomputers physically,
architecturally their CPUs and operating systems have evolved largely by
integrating features from minicomputers.

List of minicomputers

   * DEC PDP and VAX
   * Data General Nova
   * IBM AS400 and RS-6000
   * Hewlett-Packard HP3000 Series
   * Norsk Data Nord-1, Nord-10 and Nord-100
   * Prime Computer Prime 50-series

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