Classes of computer IBM was formed in 1924.

Konand Zuse developed a

1. Analog Computer mechanical computer, the Z1, in 1938 in Germany.
2. Digital Computer
3. Hybrid Computer (Analog + Digital) The Electronic Era : The first electronic computer using.
4. Super Computer Valves were developed by John V. Atanas off in the late
5. Mainframe Computer 1930’s. It contained add subtract unit. It was relatively a
6. Mini Computer small computer and used about 300 valves. Its memory
7. Micro Computer or Personal Computer unit consisted of capacitors mounted on a rotating drum.
It used a no. of I/O devices including a card punch and a
ANALOG COMPUTER card reader. The first popular general electronic digital
Analog computer is that computer, which is use to computer was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical
process continuously varying data. Everything we see Interpreter and calculator). John von Neumann was the
and hear is change continuously. This changeable consultant of the ENIAC project.
continuous stream of data is called analog data. Analog
computer can be used in scientific and industrial The ENIAC used a high speed memory to store both
applications such as measure the electrical current, programs as well as data during program execution.
frequency and resistance of capacitor, etc. Neumann and his colleagues designed and build the IAS
Analog computer that performs arithmetical operation Computers. It used RAM consisting of a cathode ray tube.
by measurable quantities, such as mechanical The transistors were invented in 1948 at AT&T bell
movement, the rotation of gears rather than by number. laboratories. Slowly they replaced Vacuum tubes. IC’s
In Analog computers, data is transmitted for its were first introduced, ie, designed and fabricated in
operation in the form of continuous signals, while in 1958-59. The examples of computers using IC’s are-: IBM
digital computers in the form discrete signals (or – 370 & PDP-8. In 1970 LSI chips were introduced is form
discontinuous signal). of memory units. Computers built in 1970’s & onwards
Examples of analog computer are temperature, used micro process and other LSI, VLSI and ULSI
pressure, telephone lines, Speedometer, resistance of components.
capacitor, frequency of signal and voltage etc.
Difference between analog and digital computer HYBRID COMPUTER (ANALOG + DIGITAL)
Both of analog and digital computer have their own uses A combination of computers those are capable of
and misuses. inputting and outputting in both digital and analog
• Digital computer shows result in form of monitor or signals. A hybrid computer system setup offers a cost
other output devices while analog computer shows effective method of performing complex simulations.
results in the form of voltage signals.
• Digital computer uses electronic circuits. While analog SUPER COMPUTER
computer use resistor for flow of continuous signal. A supercomputer is the fastest computer in the
• Analog computer cannot be produced repeated result world that can process a significant amount of data very
with exact equivalence, which means analog computers quickly. The computing Performance of a
are less accurate as compared to digital computers. “supercomputer” is measured very high as compared to
• Analog computers are used where exact values are not a general purpose computer. The computing
always required such as temperature and speed. While Performance of a supercomputer is measured in FLOPS
Digital computers are used where exact values required. (that is floating-point operations per second) instead of
• As comparing with speed, analog computers are slower MIPS. The supercomputer consists of tens of thousands
and less reliable whereas Digital computers are faster. of processors which can perform billions and trillions of
calculations per second
DIGITAL COMPUTER They have evolved from grid to cluster system of
The successful general purpose mechanical computers massively parallel computing. Cluster system computing
were developed. In 1930, mechanical calculations were means that machine uses multiple processors in one
built for automatic addition, subtraction, multiplication system instead of arrays of separate computers in a
& division. A calculator is not a programmable device. network.
The different eras of the Evolution of Digital Computers These computers are most massive concerning
are listed below: size. A most powerful supercomputer can occupy few
feet to hundreds of feet. The supercomputer price is very
Mechanical Era : There were many attempts to create a high, and they can vary from 2 lakh dollar to over 100
m/c that could help to perform various calculations. In million dollars.
1823, Charles Babbage tried to build a mechanical as Supercomputers were introduced in the 1960s
computing m/c capable of performing automatic and developed by Seymour Cray with the Atlas at the
mathematical calculations. This was designed to University of Manchester. The Cray designed CDC 1604
compute tables of functions such as logs functions etc. In which was the first supercomputer in the world, and it
1830’s Babbage made a more powerful mechanical replaces vacuum tube with transistors.
computer. This m/c was designed to perform any
mathematical calculation automatically.

It could perform addition etc. It had a memory unit. Its

capacity was 1000 numbers, each no. consisting of 50
digits. The m/c was a programmable m/c. It had
mechanism for enabling a program to change the
sequence of its operations automatically. In the late 19th
century punched cards were commercially used. Soon
Characteristics of Supercomputer The Definition and meaning of mainframe has shifted
• They can support more than a hundred users from its original reference to the main housing, or frame,
at a time. that contained the central processing unit (CPU) of the
• These machines are capable of handling the computer. In those days, all computers were big-like the
massive amount of calculations that are beyond the size of a garage and the frame for the CPU might have
human capabilities, i.e., the human is unable to solve been as big as a walk-in closet. Now mainframe refers to
such extensive calculations. the kind of large computer that runs an entire
• Many individuals can access supercomputers corporation.
at the same time.
• These are the most expensive computers that While “large” can still mean as big as a room, most of
can ever be made. today’s “mainframes” are much smaller, although
they’re still quite a bit bigger than a personal computer
Features of Supercomputer or even a minicomputer. A mainframe has an enormous
• They have more than 1 CPU (Central Processing storage space on disk and tape (like thousands of
Unit) which contains instructions so that it can interpret kilobytes, measured in gigabytes), and an enormous
instructions and execute arithmetic and logical amount of main memory. Theoretically, it works a lot
operations. faster than the fastest personal computer. A mainframe
• The supercomputer can support extremely also costs big bucks, from half a million or so on up.
high computation speed of CPUs.
• They can operate on pairs of lists of numbers In today’s world where all the business, transactions,
instead of pairs of numbers. communications are real time. So to perform all this task,
• They were used initially in applications related a powerful computer require on the server side, which
to national security, nuclear weapon design, and processes the instructions and provides the output in
cryptography. But nowadays they are also employed by seconds. According to the usage of computers in today’s
the aerospace, automotive and petroleum industries. world, we can categories computer in Supercomputer,
Mainframe Computer, and Mini Computer and
Uses of Supercomputer microcomputer categories. A mainframe computer is the
• Supercomputers are not used for everyday fastest computer after supercomputer to execute
tasks because of their superiority. complex and lengthy calculations. A mainframe
• Supercomputer handles those applications, computer is more powerful than Mini and
which required the real-time processing. The uses are as Microcomputer, but less powerful than Supercomputer.
follows: A mainframe computer is used in the large organization.
• They’re used for scientific simulations and
research such as weather forecasting, meteorology, A mainframe computer is a combination of memory
nuclear energy research, physics, and chemistry, as well (RAM) and many processors. It acts as a central
as for extremely complex animated graphics. They are processing unit for many workstations and terminals
also used to interpret new diseases and predict illness connected with it. A mainframe computer is used to
behavior and treatment. process the large and huge amount of data in petabytes.
• The military uses supercomputers for testing It can control thousands of user ’s. Name ‘Mainframe’
new air crafts, tanks, and weapons. They also use them means that a frame for holding a number of processors
to understand the effect on soldiers and wars. These and main memory. Mainframe computer plays a
machines are also used for encrypting the data. significant role in e-business where hundreds to
• Scientists use them to test the impact of thousands of people connect to a server to precede their
nuclear weapon detonation. request in a real time. Similarly, In banking, government,
• Hollywood uses supercomputers for the education system mainframe computer play a valuable
creation of animations. role.
• In entertainment, supercomputers are used for
online gaming. Components of Mainframe computer
Supercomputers help in stabilizing the game Mainframe computer provide reliable and secure
performance when a lot of users are playing the game. process execution. Mainframe computer has some
components to perform task.
CPU: CPU contains the processors, memory, control
circuits, and interfaces for channels. A channel is an
MAINFRAME independent path between I/O devices and memory.
This path is used for data movements and for controlling
the computer components.
Controllers: Channels are used to connect devices with
control units. Channel is also known as a bus. In
Mainframe computer, the different control unit (internal
circuit and logic) is used for different -different devices
like tape, disk. Control unit is further connected with
storage unit.
Cluster controller: Cluster controller is a device to
connect channel terminal to host system. Cluster
controls have two types
Channel-attached cluster controllers and link-attached
cluster controllers.
Cluster controllers provide advanced features like IBM one. A minicomputer is also called as a mid-range
Token Ring attachment interfaces, management, and computer. Minicomputers are mainly multi-users
monitoring. systems where more than one user can work
I/O channels: During I/O connectivity, we used some simultaneously. Mini computer examples: IBM’s
term like IOCDS, ESCON, FICON, CHIPD’s having unique AS/400e, Honeywell200, TI-990.
definitions and purpose.
ICODS: ICODS stands for I/O control data set. It is a Minicomputer can support multi-users at a time or you
control file in I/O layer to translate physical I/O address can say that minicomputer is a multiprocessing system.
into device address. Also, the power of processing of minicomputers is not
ESCON (Enterprise Systems Connection): is a first IBM larger than the power of mainframe and
and vendor product for connecting more than one supercomputers. These minicomputers can do time-
mainframe computer and with locally attached sharing, batch processing, and online processing.
workstations. It is Fiber Optic channel to transfer the Size of Minicomputer
data with the maximum speed of 17 MByte/ s. We can The size of minicomputers can range from 12 inches in
extend the local to mainframe network up to 60 km. It width to less than 7. This small size is especially attractive
has some limitations regarding speed and network area. to students because they can use it anywhere they want.
To make it better IBM next version was FICON. FICON
(fiber connector) is used to increase the transfer speed History of Minicomputer
of ESCON channel. One Ficon connector is equal to eight The term minicomputer was come to know in the 1960s
ESCON connector. and through that time only the small computers are
Multiprocessors: Multiprocessors indicate that number made by making the use of transistors and core memory
of processors. Multiple processors in mainframe technologies. The first minicomputer which was
computer used some Prefix Storage Area to process the developed was known as Digital Equipment Corporation,
data (For error handling and interrupt handling). Using which was made by using transistors and it costs from
special instruction set processor can communicate with the US $16000.
another processor using special instruction set.

The advantage of mainframe computer

Mainframe computer has many advantages as well as Types of minicomputer
disadvantages. From the last 50 years, there was a great The types of minicomputer are- tablet PC, Desktop
revolution in mainframe computer in all field like size, minicomputers, cell phones, notebooks, high-end mP3
processing speed, data transfer speed, security, and players, etc.
flexibility.
• Mainframe computer provides a great security against Uses of minicomputer
the attack of viruses, warm, spyware, malware. Each person using a minicomputer has their own
Encryption technique like file encryption, data set and terminal attached by wires or via a modem to the
file encryption, network encryption, clustering computer proper. (A terminal isn’t a computer-it’s
encryption empower security. basically just a keyboard and a monitor) The
• Mainframe computers are compatible with all types of minicomputer spends a little bit of time on one person’s
software and hardware. Because different user connects task, then moves on to the next, and so on, juggling the
with servers along with different hardware and software work based on which jobs it thinks are most important.
on their system. They can easily communicate with If you’re the only one using a minicomputer, this can be
server-side without any interrupt. one fast machine.
• Mainframe computer deals with thousands of users to
execute their instructions simultaneously. And can store But once many users (people) are “on” the system, the
• Without disturbing process on the computer, we can thing begins to slow down-you may type something and
add storage, processors or memory and extend its then wait for a minute or more before you see a response
capability. on the screen. Minicomputers used to be the only option
With some advantages, it has some disadvantage for companies. Now, many firms are turning to networks
• A mainframe computer is expensive. It is not easy to of personal computers to accomplish the same thing
purchase a mainframe as a comparison to the faster and cheaper.
microcomputer.The microcomputer is handled by the
single user, but mainframe handled many users. They were used for three primary purposes:
Installation is not easy.
Process control
MINICOMPUTER Minicomputers are primarily used by the companies for
the manufacturing control of the process. Process
Control has two primary functions- data acquisition and
feedback.
Ex:- factories make use of minicomputers to control the
manufacturing process. If any problem appears in any
part of the process, then it recognizes the change and
A minicomputer is also known as mini. It is a class of small made required adjustments.
computers that was introduced into the world in the
mid-1960s. A minicomputer is a computer which has all Data management
the features of a large size computer, but its size is Minicomputers that we use for the data management
smaller than those. A minicomputer lies between the can do any task regarding data like it can take, restore or
mainframe and the microcomputer because its size is generate data.
smaller than the former one and larger than the latter
Communication Components of Microcomputer
Minicomputers act as an interface between the human All Microcomputer are based on same principle like
operator and a larger processor. The user can run having CPU for processing data ,memory for storing data
operations such as error checking with the help of and input output devices , but many types
minicomputer and then can use the device for making microcomputers are available in market .This difference
adjustments also. in microcomputer is due to the use of various types of
The other uses are as follows: data bus and address bus. Data bus and address bus is
• They are also used for scientific computations. used for data and address supply. Capacity is measure in
• Used for business-transaction processing. form of bits like 32 bit data bus or 64 bit data bus.
• Used for database management.
• Used for file handling
• Used for engineering computations.

MICRO COMPUTER or PERSONAL COMPUTER

Micro Computer is a small computer. Your personal

computers are equivalent to the microcomputer.
Mainframe and Mini Computer is ancestor of
microcomputer. Integrated Circuit fabrication
technology reduces the size of Mainframe and
Minicomputer.
Technically, a microcomputer is a computer in which the
CPU (central processing unit, the brains of the computer)
is contained on one single chip, a microprocessor,
input/output devices and storage (memory) unit. All
these components are important for a proper working of
microcomputer.

Types of Micro Computer

Most workstations are also types of micro computer, for
the same reason, although some personal computer is as
fast as the fastest workstation. And a computer used by
more than one person (a multi-user computer) is still a
microcomputer as long as it has a microprocessor for its
CPU.
Notebook
Notebook is the smallest microcomputer, which can be
ultra-mobile3 inches thick with less than 3 pounds
lightweight and smaller than a briefcase, allow for easy
setup in a room. A notebook can be effectively
connected to the Internet ISP via a cable or Wi-Fi.
Laptop
Laptop microcomputer is bigger than the notebook
computer powered by a battery and designed for low
power consumption, which can be smaller than a
briefcase. Although laptops and desktop computers have
same capabilities. A laptop also has a thin display screen
with attached keyboard and a touch pad used for
navigation.
Desktop
Desktops are personal computers and bigger than
notebooks and laptops. These microcomputers consist of
the system unit, keyboard and monitor. Desktop
microcomputers are cheaper than laptops or notebooks.
Unlike a notebook,which is ultra-mobile, a desktop micro
computeris stay at one location. The desktop
microcomputers are more reliable than notebooks and
laptops and easy to repair.