mainframe n.
Term originally referring to the cabinet
containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a
room-filling Stone Age batch machine. After the emergence of
smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the
traditional big iron machines were described as `mainframe
computers' and eventually just as mainframes. The term carries the
connotation of a machine designed for batch rather than interactive
use, though possibly with an interactive timesharing operating
system retrofitted onto it; it is especially used of machines built
by IBM, Unisys, and the other great dinosaurs surviving from
computing's Stone Age.
It has been common wisdom among hackers since the late 1980s that
the mainframe architectural tradition is essentially dead (outside
of the tiny market for number-crunching supercomputers (see
cray)), having been swamped by the recent huge advances in IC
technology and low-cost personal computing. The wave of failures,
takeovers, and mergers among traditional mainframe makers in the
early 1990s bore this out. The biggest mainframer of all, IBM, was
compelled to re-invent itself as a huge systems-consulting house.
(See dinosaurs mating and killer micro).
Term originally referring to the cabinet
containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a
room-filling Stone Age batch machine. After the emergence of
smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the
traditional big iron machines were described as `mainframe
computers' and eventually just as mainframes. The term carries the
connotation of a machine designed for batch rather than interactive
use, though possibly with an interactive timesharing operating
system retrofitted onto it; it is especially used of machines built
by IBM, Unisys, and the other great dinosaurs surviving from
computing's Stone Age.
It has been common wisdom among hackers since the late 1980s that
the mainframe architectural tradition is essentially dead (outside
of the tiny market for number-crunching supercomputers (see
cray)), having been swamped by the recent huge advances in IC
technology and low-cost personal computing. The wave of failures,
takeovers, and mergers among traditional mainframe makers in the
early 1990s bore this out. The biggest mainframer of all, IBM, was
compelled to re-invent itself as a huge systems-consulting house.
(See dinosaurs mating and killer micro).
Related:
- mainframe: n. Term originally referring to the cabinet
containing the central processor unit or `main frame' of a
room-filling {Stone Age} batch machine.
After the emergence of smaller `minicomputer' designs in the early 1970s, the traditional {big iron} machines were described as `mainframe computers' and eventually just as mainframes.... - killer micro n.
[popularized by Eugene Brooks] A
microprocessor-based machine that infringes on mini, mainframe, or
supercomputer performance turf.
Often heard in "No one will survive the attack of the killer micros!... - GCOS:: /jee'kohs/ n. A {quick-and-dirty} {clone} of
System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970
originally called GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System).... - DEC /dek/ n.
1. v. Verbal (and only rarely
written) shorthand for decrement, i.
e. `decrease by one'. Especially used by assembly programmers, as many assembly languages have a dec mnemonic.... - GCOS /jee'kohs/ n.
A quick-and-dirty clone
of System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970
originally called GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System).... - DEC: n. Digital Equipment Corporation. Before the {killer
micro} revolution of the late 1980s, hackerdom was closely
symbiotic with DEC's pioneering timesharing machines.
The first of the group of cultures described by this lexicon nucleated around the PDP-1 (see {TMRC}.... - dinosaur: n. 1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and special
power.
Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines.... - Iron Age n.
In the history of computing, 1961-1971 -- the
formative era of commercial mainframe technology, when
ferrite-core dinosaurs ruled the earth.
The Iron Age began, ironically enough, with the delivery of the first minicomputer (the PDP-1) and ended with the introduction of the first commercial microprocessor (the Intel 4004) in 1971.... - dinosaur n.
1. Any hardware requiring raised flooring and
special power.
Used especially of old minis and mainframes, in contrast with newer microprocessor-based machines....
