🚀 go-pugleaf

On 25 Oct 2005 05:11:49 -0700, "RolandRB" <rolandberry@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>I'll give more information as there seems to be some confusion on this
>issue. I worked with mainframe computers for many years. "Mainframe"
>really means the "main frame" (as opposed to other frames that contain
>disks and other frames that contain channels and frames that contain
>God knows what) and is the frame that contains the main processor
>board. These processors boards can contain many processors and these
>processors do real processing. There will be other processors elsewhere
>outside the "main frame" that handle I/Os and other tasks. You even
>have processors checking on the temperature of the parts. Some of these
>processors will make telephone calls if they detect a part has failed
>or might fail at some time. The "main frame" literally used to be a
>frame with things in it. It is true that these computers have got
>smaller, but generally hundreds of users are connected to them from
>maybe various locations remote to the computer. As such these things
>usually need a large space and the communication cables going into them
>can run into the hundreds and weigh tons. The room they are in will
>need to be cooled as well. I don't know if it is still the case, but
>when I worked with IBM mainframes, these were water cooled as well. The
>only mainframe manufacturers I am aware of now are IBM and Amdahl and I
>think Amdahl are really Fujitsu and Siemens.

What about Unisys?    A computer doesn't have to be IBM compatible to
be a Mainframe.   

Your definition seems to fit mini-computers (such as a VAX) as well.
Heck, I've seen a PC that had all of its disk drives external - does
that make the PC a main frame?

What's the difference between a mainframe and a mini-computer?