continued...
5. Parallel processing is done in this computer. It may use symmetric or Massive parallel processing
6. uses powerful operating system (LINUX) with lightweight kernel.
7. Supercomputers of the 21st century can use over 100,000 processors.
8. Supports more number of terminals at same time (more than 1000)
9. while working they may share memory or operating system or bus with processor.
10. A number of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor are used in supercomputer and its world length is 64 or more bit.
11. use of supercomputers include animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration.
12. advanced inputs, outputs,secondary storage with primary. 100’s of GB of RAM, 1000’s of GB of secondary storage
Examples: CRAY XMP/24, NEC500, PARAM, Fujitsu VP2600/10,ANURAG.
Mainframe Computer
Features:
1. Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume of data. it can be said one housed CPU.
2. Less powerful,smaller in size and less expensive than supercomputer.
3. resulting in high reliability and security
4. measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS)
5. word length was 32bit.
6. more number of inputoutput facilities with the ability to offload to separate engines.
7. supports virtualization (runs many instances in virtual environment without using physical devices)
8. supports hot swapping.
9. supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of users/processors simultaneously.
10. supports fault tolerant .
11. mostly used for transaction processing
Examples: z900, z990, System z9, and System z10, etc
Minicomputer
Features:
1. It is a general purpose machine with a smaller CPU than a mainframe and super
2. It can be used as midrange servers.
3. Its word lengths are usually 16 to 32 bits.
4. It has a transfer rate of about 4 million bytes/second.
5. It supports multitasking,multiprogramming concept
6. It had 4bits bus system called bitslice architecture
7. It can support all high level languages.
8. It can support between 15 to 25/50 terminals.
9. The CPU speed is 100 kips to 500 MIPS (Million Instructions per second)
10. The main memory size ranges from 256kb to 32Mb.
Examples: MAI Basic4, DEC PDP and VAX Series, Prime Computer Prime 50, Data General Nova, Wang Laboratories 2200 and VS Series, etc.
Microcomputer
Features:
1. smallest and cheapest computer compared to super or mainframe or mini.
2. it is general purpose machine and does not need dedicated room.
3. contains only one microprocessor so called microcomputer.
4. supports 16/32 bits system.
5. used with CUI/GUI operating system.
6. used inputs like keyboard,mouse with monitor.
7. used RAM as primary memory (256Kb or more) and magnetic disk/optical disk as secondary.
8. does not support more no. of terminals.
9. its microprocessor speed is from MHZ to GHZ.
10. used for small business,accounting, for home and word related problems
11. . used intel chip like 8008
12. supports multiprogramming, multitasking, real time processing etc.
13. it has many types like, PDA,LAPTOP,TABLET ETC
Examples of such computers are PS 386, PS 486, PENTIUM (P I, II, III, IV), IBM PC, PCAT, etc.
On the basis of brand:
IBM Computer
Features:
1. powerful computer developed by IBM
2. uses XT technology
3. uses 8088 intel microprocessor running at 4.77 MHZ
4. had extra co-math processor
5. had memory 128KB,10MB hard disk
6. had five 8bit input/output channel slot.
7. supported BASICA language for programming
8. could be used for small business ,home use.
. Examples: IBM 604, PC/XT, IBM Portable PC, etc.
IBM compatible:
1. this is same computer as of that IBM computer. It can run all softwares as those.
2. they are low cost computers with same architecture of IBM original PC
3. used operating system ‘DOS’.
4. used firmware based BIOS
5. used BASIC programming language developed by Microsoft
6. had 8088 processor
7. used 20bit memory space
8. used video card
9. Spreadsheets, WYSIWYG word processors, presentation software and remote communication software. But this
capability was beyond the what ‘DOS’ provided. and many other features of original IBM computer
Apple/Macintosh:
1. develops personal computer as a brand
2. a first computer which used GUI concept with Mouse
3. has different architecture than other machine
4. its first design had 64 KB to 128 KB RAM, 6809E processor
5. had 64kb of ROM with BIOS
6. had limited color display with limited resolution
7. used PASCAL and later C++ like languages for development
8. 16/32 bits operating system
9. supports multitasking,multiprogramming,real time,time sharing
10. used ‘snow white design language’ for the computer design and look
11. owes own hardware, softwares, architectures.
12. expensive systems
On the basis model:
XT (Extended Technology)
Features:
1. has same features as of IBM except minor improvements
2. used 8086/8088 microprocessor with speed 4.77 MHZ
3. had one supporting coprocessor(math)
4. it had 128KB RAM, 10MB hard disk
5. the operating system was DOS
6. used programs concept stored in ROM
7. for programming, BASICA was used
8. many devices like keyboard,joystick, printer,floppy disk were used
9. to enhance the video quality, video adapter was used. later it was changed to ‘enhanced graphics adapter
10. gradually the input channel, RAm capacity and others’ quality was improved.
AT (Advanced Technology)
Features:
1. used improved technology; so called advanced technology over XT.it was developed by IBM
2. used 80286 microprocessor with speed 8MHZ
3. the system board had 16bit bus and 24bit address bus
4. it used 15 IRQ and 7 DMA channels
5. used maximum memory 16MB
6. input with 84keyed board
7. storing devices floppy of capacity 1.2MB, hard disk of 20MB were used
8. was equipped with video cards
9. used operating system DOS with an additional feature of networking
10. was available with physical lock system
11. just like XT, AT had also supporting coprocessor(math).
PS/2
Features:
1. next generation computer released by IBM to recapture the growing market in the field of pc
2. it had complex architecture (microchannel) than XT and AT
3. computers used Intel 286, 86SX, 486 etc processors.
4. had 8MHZ or faster speed
5. primary memory as semiconductor with capacity 512K (72 pin system)
6. secondary media as hard disk with capacity 20MB and floppy disk of capacity 720K to 1.44MB
7. VGA was used for high resolution video and colours
8. used with GUI operating system named OS/2 and UNIX in all its pcs
9. inputs like keyboard having 101 keys and mouse were used in its interface.
10. supported ‘plug n play’ architecture
11. used BIOS based programs
12. IBM also had developed same architecture based server for multiprocessing.
Mobile Computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. It allows us to transfer data like audio or video from a computer/device to any other computer without any physical connection. Here it uses waveforms to have communication. We can use any device for this communication.
Features:
1. Portability Ability to move a device within a learning environment or to different environments with ease.
2. Social Interactivity Allows for data sharing and collaboration between users.
3. Connectivity Ability to be digitally connected for the purpose of communication of data in any environment.
4. Individuality Ability to use the technology to provide scaffolding on difficult activities and lesson customization for individual learners.
Examples: Tablet PC, Mobile, etc.
Advantages:
1. Increase in Productivity Mobile devices can be used out in the field of various companies, therefore reducing the time and cost for clients and themselves.
2. Entertainment Mobile devices can be used for entertainment purposes, for personal and even for presentations to people and clients.
3. Portability This would be one of the main advantages of mobile computing, you are not restricted to one location in order for you to get jobs done or even access email on the go
4. Cloud Computing This service is available for saving documents on a online server and being able to access them anytime and anywhere when you have a connection to the internet and can access these files on several mobile devices or PCs at home.
Disadvantages:
1. Quality of connectivity as one of the disadvantages, mobile devices will need either WiFi connectivity or mobile network connectivity such as GPRS, 3G and in some countries even 4G connectivity that is why this is a disadvantage because if you are not near any of these connections your access to the internet is very limited.
2. Security concerns Mobile VPNs are unsafe to connect to, and also syncing devices might also lead to security concerns. accessing a WiFi network can also be risky because WPA and WEP security can be bypassed easily.
3. Power Consumption Due to the use of batteries in these devices, these do not tend to last long, if in a situation where there is no source of power for charging then that will certainly be a let down.
5. Parallel processing is done in this computer. It may use symmetric or Massive parallel processing
6. uses powerful operating system (LINUX) with lightweight kernel.
7. Supercomputers of the 21st century can use over 100,000 processors.
8. Supports more number of terminals at same time (more than 1000)
9. while working they may share memory or operating system or bus with processor.
10. A number of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) processor are used in supercomputer and its world length is 64 or more bit.
11. use of supercomputers include animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration.
12. advanced inputs, outputs,secondary storage with primary. 100’s of GB of RAM, 1000’s of GB of secondary storage
Examples: CRAY XMP/24, NEC500, PARAM, Fujitsu VP2600/10,ANURAG.
Mainframe Computer
Features:
1. Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume of data. it can be said one housed CPU.
2. Less powerful,smaller in size and less expensive than supercomputer.
3. resulting in high reliability and security
4. measured in millions of instructions per second (MIPS)
5. word length was 32bit.
6. more number of inputoutput facilities with the ability to offload to separate engines.
7. supports virtualization (runs many instances in virtual environment without using physical devices)
8. supports hot swapping.
9. supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of users/processors simultaneously.
10. supports fault tolerant .
11. mostly used for transaction processing
Examples: z900, z990, System z9, and System z10, etc
Minicomputer
Features:
1. It is a general purpose machine with a smaller CPU than a mainframe and super
2. It can be used as midrange servers.
3. Its word lengths are usually 16 to 32 bits.
4. It has a transfer rate of about 4 million bytes/second.
5. It supports multitasking,multiprogramming concept
6. It had 4bits bus system called bitslice architecture
7. It can support all high level languages.
8. It can support between 15 to 25/50 terminals.
9. The CPU speed is 100 kips to 500 MIPS (Million Instructions per second)
10. The main memory size ranges from 256kb to 32Mb.
Examples: MAI Basic4, DEC PDP and VAX Series, Prime Computer Prime 50, Data General Nova, Wang Laboratories 2200 and VS Series, etc.
Microcomputer
Features:
1. smallest and cheapest computer compared to super or mainframe or mini.
2. it is general purpose machine and does not need dedicated room.
3. contains only one microprocessor so called microcomputer.
4. supports 16/32 bits system.
5. used with CUI/GUI operating system.
6. used inputs like keyboard,mouse with monitor.
7. used RAM as primary memory (256Kb or more) and magnetic disk/optical disk as secondary.
8. does not support more no. of terminals.
9. its microprocessor speed is from MHZ to GHZ.
10. used for small business,accounting, for home and word related problems
11. . used intel chip like 8008
12. supports multiprogramming, multitasking, real time processing etc.
13. it has many types like, PDA,LAPTOP,TABLET ETC
Examples of such computers are PS 386, PS 486, PENTIUM (P I, II, III, IV), IBM PC, PCAT, etc.
On the basis of brand:
IBM Computer
Features:
1. powerful computer developed by IBM
2. uses XT technology
3. uses 8088 intel microprocessor running at 4.77 MHZ
4. had extra co-math processor
5. had memory 128KB,10MB hard disk
6. had five 8bit input/output channel slot.
7. supported BASICA language for programming
8. could be used for small business ,home use.
. Examples: IBM 604, PC/XT, IBM Portable PC, etc.
IBM compatible:
1. this is same computer as of that IBM computer. It can run all softwares as those.
2. they are low cost computers with same architecture of IBM original PC
3. used operating system ‘DOS’.
4. used firmware based BIOS
5. used BASIC programming language developed by Microsoft
6. had 8088 processor
7. used 20bit memory space
8. used video card
9. Spreadsheets, WYSIWYG word processors, presentation software and remote communication software. But this
capability was beyond the what ‘DOS’ provided. and many other features of original IBM computer
Apple/Macintosh:
1. develops personal computer as a brand
2. a first computer which used GUI concept with Mouse
3. has different architecture than other machine
4. its first design had 64 KB to 128 KB RAM, 6809E processor
5. had 64kb of ROM with BIOS
6. had limited color display with limited resolution
7. used PASCAL and later C++ like languages for development
8. 16/32 bits operating system
9. supports multitasking,multiprogramming,real time,time sharing
10. used ‘snow white design language’ for the computer design and look
11. owes own hardware, softwares, architectures.
12. expensive systems
On the basis model:
XT (Extended Technology)
Features:
1. has same features as of IBM except minor improvements
2. used 8086/8088 microprocessor with speed 4.77 MHZ
3. had one supporting coprocessor(math)
4. it had 128KB RAM, 10MB hard disk
5. the operating system was DOS
6. used programs concept stored in ROM
7. for programming, BASICA was used
8. many devices like keyboard,joystick, printer,floppy disk were used
9. to enhance the video quality, video adapter was used. later it was changed to ‘enhanced graphics adapter
10. gradually the input channel, RAm capacity and others’ quality was improved.
AT (Advanced Technology)
Features:
1. used improved technology; so called advanced technology over XT.it was developed by IBM
2. used 80286 microprocessor with speed 8MHZ
3. the system board had 16bit bus and 24bit address bus
4. it used 15 IRQ and 7 DMA channels
5. used maximum memory 16MB
6. input with 84keyed board
7. storing devices floppy of capacity 1.2MB, hard disk of 20MB were used
8. was equipped with video cards
9. used operating system DOS with an additional feature of networking
10. was available with physical lock system
11. just like XT, AT had also supporting coprocessor(math).
PS/2
Features:
1. next generation computer released by IBM to recapture the growing market in the field of pc
2. it had complex architecture (microchannel) than XT and AT
3. computers used Intel 286, 86SX, 486 etc processors.
4. had 8MHZ or faster speed
5. primary memory as semiconductor with capacity 512K (72 pin system)
6. secondary media as hard disk with capacity 20MB and floppy disk of capacity 720K to 1.44MB
7. VGA was used for high resolution video and colours
8. used with GUI operating system named OS/2 and UNIX in all its pcs
9. inputs like keyboard having 101 keys and mouse were used in its interface.
10. supported ‘plug n play’ architecture
11. used BIOS based programs
12. IBM also had developed same architecture based server for multiprocessing.
Mobile Computing
Mobile computing is human–computer interaction by which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage. It allows us to transfer data like audio or video from a computer/device to any other computer without any physical connection. Here it uses waveforms to have communication. We can use any device for this communication.
Features:
1. Portability Ability to move a device within a learning environment or to different environments with ease.
2. Social Interactivity Allows for data sharing and collaboration between users.
3. Connectivity Ability to be digitally connected for the purpose of communication of data in any environment.
4. Individuality Ability to use the technology to provide scaffolding on difficult activities and lesson customization for individual learners.
Examples: Tablet PC, Mobile, etc.
Advantages:
1. Increase in Productivity Mobile devices can be used out in the field of various companies, therefore reducing the time and cost for clients and themselves.
2. Entertainment Mobile devices can be used for entertainment purposes, for personal and even for presentations to people and clients.
3. Portability This would be one of the main advantages of mobile computing, you are not restricted to one location in order for you to get jobs done or even access email on the go
4. Cloud Computing This service is available for saving documents on a online server and being able to access them anytime and anywhere when you have a connection to the internet and can access these files on several mobile devices or PCs at home.
Disadvantages:
1. Quality of connectivity as one of the disadvantages, mobile devices will need either WiFi connectivity or mobile network connectivity such as GPRS, 3G and in some countries even 4G connectivity that is why this is a disadvantage because if you are not near any of these connections your access to the internet is very limited.
2. Security concerns Mobile VPNs are unsafe to connect to, and also syncing devices might also lead to security concerns. accessing a WiFi network can also be risky because WPA and WEP security can be bypassed easily.
3. Power Consumption Due to the use of batteries in these devices, these do not tend to last long, if in a situation where there is no source of power for charging then that will certainly be a let down.