Content added Content deleted
imported>mutante mNo edit summary |
imported>Finn mNo edit summary |
||
Line 11: | Line 11: | ||
Today, because the large vacuum tubes have given way to transistors, a desktop personal computer can have as much poweras a mainframe computer that once filled a whole room. |
Today, because the large vacuum tubes have given way to transistors, a desktop personal computer can have as much poweras a mainframe computer that once filled a whole room. |
||
Mainframes in use now often have smaller [[computers]] as front end processors. |
Mainframes in use now often have smaller [[computer|computers]] as front end processors. |
||
[[Category:Computer]] |
[[Category:Computer]] |
Revision as of 13:59, 10 March 2005
Definition for: mainframe
A "mainframe" originally meant the cabinet containing the central processor unit of a very large computer.
After minicomputers became available, the word mainframe came to refer to the large computer itself.
The older computers used many large vacuum tubes and generated a lot of heat, thus requiring specially air-conditioned rooms.
A single computer might have hundreds of users at a time.
Today, because the large vacuum tubes have given way to transistors, a desktop personal computer can have as much poweras a mainframe computer that once filled a whole room.
Mainframes in use now often have smaller computers as front end processors.