Abstract
The minicomputer was a new class of low-cost computers that arose during the 1960s, and its development was facilitated by the introduction of integrated circuits and their improved performance and declining cost. Minicomputers were distinguished from the large mainframe computers by price and size, and they formed a class of the smallest general-purpose computers. We discuss minicomputers such as DEC’s PDP-1, PDP-11 and VAX-11/780 minicomputers, which were popular with the engineering and scientific communities. DEC became the second largest computer company in the world in the late 1980s, but it was too slow in reacting to the rise of the microprocessor and the revolution in home computers. Later mainframes are discussed including the Amdahl 470V/6 and the intense competition between IBM and Amdahl in the high-end mainframe market.
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References
O’Regan G (2013) Giants of computing. Springer, London
O’Regan G (2015) Pillars of computing. Springer, Cham
Schein E (2004) DEC is dead, long live DEC. The lasting legacy of digital equipment corporation. Barrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco
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O’Regan, G. (2016). Minicomputers and Later Mainframes. In: Introduction to the History of Computing. Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33138-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33138-6_9
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