Woodym1
Member
My (tongue-in-cheek) concept of a "mainframe" is any computer system which weighed so much that it required a truck/tractor/forklift to move it into the computer room! In several pieces.
For example, an IBM S34 is NOT a mainframe, nor is a UNIVAC 1004. However a UNIVAC I or an IBM 705 II most assuredly are. The aforementioned systems are history and most current desktops can easily out perform them all, (In fact, I suppose my iPaq could!) but they were the mainframes which started the computer field. Put the US on the moon.
The old UNIVAC I, II and III were gigantic! Some, you could actually walk into. The IBM 705s the 7080, both were huge. The IBM 705 vacuum tube filaments alone probably consumed more power per day than my household per month! I sometimes dream (too much pasta and vino?) I'm troubleshooting one of these old systems again, with a trusty Tektronic 310 or a 545. Staring into a small green CRT, trying to find the sneak pulse or the non-kosher level. These tube computers could shock the crap out of you! (B+ could mean Brown and Served!) Maybe the dream was a nightmare?
For example, an IBM S34 is NOT a mainframe, nor is a UNIVAC 1004. However a UNIVAC I or an IBM 705 II most assuredly are. The aforementioned systems are history and most current desktops can easily out perform them all, (In fact, I suppose my iPaq could!) but they were the mainframes which started the computer field. Put the US on the moon.
The old UNIVAC I, II and III were gigantic! Some, you could actually walk into. The IBM 705s the 7080, both were huge. The IBM 705 vacuum tube filaments alone probably consumed more power per day than my household per month! I sometimes dream (too much pasta and vino?) I'm troubleshooting one of these old systems again, with a trusty Tektronic 310 or a 545. Staring into a small green CRT, trying to find the sneak pulse or the non-kosher level. These tube computers could shock the crap out of you! (B+ could mean Brown and Served!) Maybe the dream was a nightmare?