Mainframe and Personal Computers
Mainframe and Personal Computers
There are millions of computers in existence - so many that nobody has been able to keep track of exactly how many there are! Of those millions, there are many difference kinds. Two of the computers we can specifically discuss are; Mainframe computers and Personal computers. How can we make sense of the two different kinds of computers?
Here are some ways we can look at it:
What is it for?
Is it independent, or part of something else?
§ How "big" or "powerful" is it?
§ How "fast" is it?
Many computers are made to handle a wide variety of tasks like personal computers (PCs), but others are aimed at a special job or situation like mainframes. Minicomputers or Personal computers are generally designed for handling a wide variety of tasks, such as:
Word processing, accounting, database
Payroll, inventory, order processing
Industrial control, engineering, drafting
Scientific research and data analysis
Mainframe computers are generally dedicated for handling one job only:
Word processing
Controlling a machine (robot)
Running a telephone switching station
Environmental control
Medical imaging system
Is it Independent?
When we think of "a computer," most of us probably think of a machine that is independent of other machines (although it could be part of a network). But many devices that qualify as computers are actually a part of something else. These are so-called embedded computers, and most of them are actually microprocessors. So what is the difference between a microprocessor and a microcomputer?
A computer is an independent machine containing:
CPU + ALU + Memory + Input + Output + Storage
They come in many sizes - tiny, small, medium, or large, but they are designed to work on their own.
An embedded processor or computer is:
CPU + Memory + wires to control...
More Computer Science
essays:
The social economic and ethical consequences of current uses of computing.
... affect on society and the individual is within leisure. The computer and internet provide entertainment in many different forms, from video games to media. Music, video, software and ...
Computer Crime
... a personal computer, working on different types of coding and creating technological fixes and patches for existing software. This kind of ...
PC computers are better than macintosh computers on average
... choosing your car. A common generalization states that the PC computer outruns the Mac on many different circumstances; doing much more than the Mac will ever be ... stated before, ones computer may distinguish the type of person they are. Most of the computers out there being used are PC computers, but ...
Professional Issues In Computing: Ethical Issues in the Computing Industry
... . The Data Protection Act affects the computing industry immensely for instance, a boss of a company cannot ask one of his IT staff to look at a database of people's personal details for his own use whereas before the data ... Ethics influences decision-making In the computing industry ethics influences the rules and principles of affecting decision making very frequently. One good example of this being about thirty years ago companies who acquired people's personal details for one use and ...
Meet Mr. Computer, tyoical use of a computer
... the basics, I would like to transfer command to the owner's manual, that came with your computer, to help you master the specific applications. While learning the basic fifth generation of PCs, let's not forget the choice of the ... applications. While learning the basic fifth generation of PCs, let's not forget the choice of the new generation, network computing on the Internet and the world wide web. Internet is probably the most important development in the history of human ...
IT risk analysis of The RedDog Company
... These kinds of documents were usually kept physically in drawers on table or digitally in personal computers. Security ... issues in enterprise are controlled by implemented access controls in different services. Nevertheless, fileserver has no proper monitoring and logging system ...
This paper is designed to educate you, the reader about what a computer virus does, how it works, and how to deal with them, and it also mentions specific virus types and describes them in detail.
... a computer program, or across a computer network. Replication is a lot more common among personal computers than in professional mainframe systems ...
Tthe impact that the personal computer has made during the past 10 years on the the community. Includes detailed history, information about the internet, and about future possibilities
... the community. It is a report that includes detailed information about the personal computer and the way it has worked its way into a lot ... then if they were to make any money. The most specific event to help the rise of the home computer was the invention of the transistor. Before the transistor the ...