First Generation of Computers (1942-1955)
The beginning of commercial computer age is from UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer). It was developed by two scientists Mauchly and Echert at the Census Department of United States in 1947. They were based on vacuum tubes. Examples of first generation computers are ENIVAC and UNIVAC-1
Advantages -
Vacuum tubes were the only electronic component available during those days.
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Vacuum tube technology made possible to make electronic digital computers.
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These computers could calculate data in milliseconds.
Disadvantages -
The computers were very large in size.
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They consumed a large amount of energy.
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They heated very soon due to thousands of vacuum tubes. Therefore needed air conditioning hence they were not very reliable.
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Costly commercial production.
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Limited commercial use.
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Very slow speed.
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Limited programming capabilities.
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Used machine language only.
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Used magnetic drums which provide very less data storage.
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Used punch cards for input.
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Not versatile and very faulty so constant maintenance was required.
Second Generation Computers (1955-1964)
The second generation computers used transistors. The scientists at Bell laboratories developed transistor in 1947. The size of the computers was decreased by replacing vacuum tubes with transistors. The examples of second generation computers are IBM 7094 series and IBM 1400 series
Advantages -
Smaller in size as compared to the first generation computers.
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More reliable
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Used less energy and were not heated.
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Wider commercial use
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Better portability as compared to the first generation computers.
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Better speed and could calculate data in microseconds
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Used faster peripherals like tape drives, magnetic disks, printer etc.
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Used Assembly language instead of Machine language.
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Accuracy improved.
Disadvantages -
Cooling system was still required
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Constant maintenance was required
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Commercial production was difficult
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Only used for specific purposes
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Costly and not versatile
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Punch cards were used for input.
Third Generation Computers (1964-1975)
The Third generation computers used the integrated circuits (IC). Kilby developed the concept of integrated circuit in 1958. It was an important invention in the computer field. The first IC was invented and used in 1961. The size of an IC is about ¼ square inch. A single IC chip may contain thousands of transistors. The computer became smaller in size, faster, more reliable and less expensive. The examples of third generation computers are IBM 370 and UNIVAC AC 9000.
Advantages -
Smaller in size as compared to previous generations.
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More reliable.
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Used less energy
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Produced less heat as compared to the previous two generations of computers.
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Better speed and could calculate data in nanoseconds.
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Used fan for heat discharge to prevent damage.
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Maintenance cost was low because hardware failure was rare.
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Totally general purpose
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Could be used for high-level languages.
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Good storage
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Versatile to an extent
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Less expensive
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Better accuracy
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Commercial production increased.
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Used mouse and keyboard for input.
Disadvantages -
Air conditioning was required.
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Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacturing of IC chips.
Fourth Generation Computers (1975-Present)
The fourth generation computers started with the invention of Microprocessor. The Microprocessor contains thousands of ICs. Ted Hoff produced the first microprocessor in 1971 for Intel. It was known as Intel 4004. The technology of integrated circuits improved rapidly. The LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuit and VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) circuit was designed. It greatly reduced the size of computer. The size of modern Microprocessors is usually one square inch. It can contain millions of electronic circuits. The examples of fourth generation computers are Apple Macintosh & IBM PC.
UNIT 7: TYPES OF COMPUTERS
Types of Computer : Based on Size
Deep March 19, 2012 Types of Computer : Based on Size2012-04-09T18:59:47+00:00 IT Stuff
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The magic machine – Computers, are not only classified w.r.t their functions but are also differentiated by their size.
Primarily they are divided into four main types:
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Super Computer
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Mainframe Computer
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Mini Computer
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Micro Computer
Super Computer:
They are focused on performing specific actions and follow heavy extremely intense and critical calculations like weather forecasting, fluid dynamics etc. They are generally used by scientists and are very powerful and expensive. The speed with which they operate is highly blazing.
Mainframe Computer:
They are the typical large computing machines which occupied extremely large space, more than the size of the rooms today. They were capable of operating multiple users via single interface and typically operated more than million instructions per second.
Mini Computer:
![http://freefeast.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mini.jpg](19855_html_7278aff3.jpg)
They are the intermediate solutions between Mainframe computers and Micro Computers. And they are also known as mid-range computers.
Micro Computer:
Microcomputers came into picture as computers having single chip micro processors. They are the most common computers being used for domestic / commercial purposes now a days. They also include solutions like Desktop Computers, Game Consoles, Tablet Computers, and Smart Phones etc. They are basically portable and carry very less space.
CLASSIFICATION BASED ON SIZE AND CAPABILITY
Classification digital Computer based on size and Capability
Based on size and capability, computers are broadly classified into
a. Microcomputers(Personal Computer)
A microcomputer is the smallest general purpose processing system. The older pc started 8 bit processor with speed of 3.7MB and current pc 64 bit processor with speed of 4.66 GB.
Examples: - IBM PCs, APPLE computers
Microcomputer can be classified into 2 types :
1. Desktops
2. Portables
The difference is portables can be used while travelling whereas desktops computers cannot be carried around.
The different portable computers are: -
1) Laptop
2) Notebooks
3) Palmtop (hand held)
4) Wearable computers
Laptop: - this computer is similar to a desktop computers but the size is smaller. They are expensive than desktop. The weight of laptop is around 3 to 5 kg.
Notebook: - These computers are as powerful as desktop but size of these computers are comparatively smaller than laptop and desktop. They weigh 2 to 3 kg. They are more costly than laptop.
Palmtop (Hand held): - They are also called as personal Digital Assistant (PDA). These computers are small in size. They can be held in hands. It is capable of doing word processing, spreadsheets and hand writing recognition, game playing, faxing and paging. These computers are not as powerful as desktop computers. Ex: - 3com palmV.
Wearable computer: - The size of this computer is very small so that it can be worn on the body. It has smaller processing power. It is used in the field of medicine. For example pace maker to correct the heart beats. Insulin meter to find the levels of insulin in the blood.
b). Workstations:- It is used in large, high-resolution graphics screen built in network support, Engineering applications(CAD/CAM), software development desktop publishing
Ex: Unix and windows NT.
b) Minicomputer: - A minicomputer is a medium-sized computer. That is more powerful than a microcomputer. These computers are usually designed to serve multiple users simultaneously (Parallel Processing). They are more expensive than microcomputers.
Examples: Digital Alpha, Sun Ultra.
c) Mainframe computers: - Computers with large storage capacities and very high speed of processing (compared to mini- or microcomputers) are known as mainframe computers. They support a large number of terminals for simultaneous use by a number of users like ATM transactions. They are also used as central host computers in distributed data processing system.
Examples: - IBM 370, S/390.
d) Supercomputer: - Supercomputers have extremely large storage capacity and computing speeds which are many times faster than other computers. A supercomputer is measured in terms of tens of millions Instructions per second (mips), an operation is made up of numerous instructions. The supercomputer is mainly used for large scale numerical problems in scientific and engineering disciplines such as Weather analysis.
Examples: - IBM Deep Blue
Since the advent of the first computer different types and sizes of computers are offering different services. Computers can be as big as occupying a large building and as small as a laptop or a microcontroller in mobile & embedded systems.
The four basic types of computers are as under:
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Supercomputer
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Mainframe Computer
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Minicomputer
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Microcomputer
Supercomputer
The most powerful computers in terms of performance and data processing are the Supercomputers. These are specialized and task specific computers used by large organizations. These computers are used for research and exploration purposes, like NASA uses supercomputers for launching space shuttles, controlling them and for space exploration purpose.
The supercomputers are very expensive and very large in size. It can be accommodated in large air-conditioned rooms; some super computers can span an entire building.
See Also: Top ten Supercomputers with HD pictures
Seymour Cray designed the first Supercomputer "CDC 6600" in 1964. CDC 6600 is known as the first ever Supercomputer.
Exascale Supercomputer
On 29th July, 2015, President of the United States, Barack Obama, approved the development of an Exascale Super Computer. The Exascale Super computer will be 30 times faster and more powerful than today’s fastest Super Computers. The need to develop such a high performance Supercomputer comes after China’s surge in high performance computing. However, the US still tops the list of Supercomputers with 233 high performance machines. China has 37 Supercomputers but they lead the list of the most powerful and high performance supercomputers since June 2013.
Presently, China’s "Tianhe – 2" is the world’s faster Supercomputer.
The Tianhe – 2 can perform 100 Petaflops, i.e quadrillions of floating point operations per second.
The following table shows list of top five most powerful Supercomputers in the world. you can also view complete list of Top 500 Supercomputers in the world.
Top five Supercomputers
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RANK
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SITE
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SYSTEM
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CORES
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RMAX
(TFLOPS/S)
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RPEAK
(TFLOPS/S)
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POWER
(KW)
|
1
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National Super computer in Guanzhou, China
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Tianhe - 2 (MilkyWay - 2)
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3,120,000
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33,862.7
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54,902.4
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17,808
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2
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DOE/SC/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States
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Titan - Cray XK7, Cray Inc.
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560,640
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17,590.0
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27,112.5
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8,209
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3
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DOE/NNSA/LLNL, United States
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Sequoia - BlueGene/Q, IBM
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1,572,864
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17,173.2
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20,132.7
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7,890
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4
|
RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) Japan
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K Computer, Tofu Interconnect Fujitsu.
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705,024
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10,510.0
|
11,280.4
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12,660
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5
|
DOE/SC/Argonne National Laboratory, United States
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Mira - BlueGene/Q, Custom IBM
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786,432
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8,586.6
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10,066.3
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3,945
|
Uses of Supercomputers
In Pakistan Supercomputers are used by Educational Institutes like NUST for research purposes. Pakistan Atomic Energy commission & Heavy Industry Taxila uses supercomputers for Research purposes.
Space Exploration
Supercomputers are used to study the origin of the universe, the dark-matters. For these studies scientist use IBM’s powerful supercomputer “Roadrunner” at National Laboratory Los Alamos.
Earthquake studies
Supercomputers are used to study the Earthquakes phenomenon. Besides that supercomputers are used for natural resources exploration, like natural gas, petroleum, coal, etc.
Weather Forecasting
Supercomputers are used for weather forecasting, and to study the nature and extent of Hurricanes, Rainfalls, windstorms, etc.
Nuclear weapons testing
Supercomputers are used to run weapon simulation that can test the Range, accuracy & impact of Nuclear weapons.
Popular Supercomputers -
IBM’s Sequoia, in United States
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Fujitsu’s K Computer in Japan
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IBM’s Mira in United States
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IBM’s SuperMUC in Germany
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NUDT Tianhe-1A in China
Mainframe computer
Although Mainframes are not as powerful as supercomputers, but certainly they are quite expensive nonetheless, and many large firms & government organizations uses Mainframes to run their business operations. The Mainframe computers can be accommodated in large air-conditioned rooms because of its size. Super-computers are the fastest computers with large data storage capacity, Mainframes can also process & store large amount of data. Banks educational institutions & insurance companies use mainframe computers to store data about their customers, students & insurance policy holders.
Popular Mainframe computers -
Fujitsu’s ICL VME
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Hitachi’s Z800
Minicomputer
Minicomputers are used by small businesses & firms. Minicomputers are also called as “Midrange Computers”. These are small machines and can be accommodated on a disk with not as processing and data storage capabilities as super-computers & Mainframes. These computers are not designed for a single user. Individual departments of a large company or organizations use Mini-computers for specific purposes. For example, a production department can use Mini-computers for monitoring certain production process.
Popular Minicomputers
Microcomputer
Desktop computers, laptops, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablets & smartphones are all types of microcomputers. The micro-computers are widely used & the fastest growing computers. These computers are the cheapest among the other three types of computers. The Micro-computers are specially designed for general usage like entertainment, education and work purposes. Well known manufacturers of Micro-computer are Dell, Apple, Samsung, Sony & Toshiba.
Desktop computers, Gaming consoles, Sound & Navigation system of a car, Netbooks, Notebooks, PDA’s, Tablet PC’s, Smartphones, Calculators are all type of Microcomputers.
You might also like:
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The Five Generations of Computers
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Advantages & disadvantages of computers
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Who invented the first Computer?
UNIT 8: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
A computer application is here defined as a program that is used to perform a user tasks with the computer. You have come across the definition of software in the early sections of this module. You also learnt how this software is classified in which case you learnt that one category or class of software is called the applications software. In this course you will learn mainly three computer applications which are Word processing, Spreadsheet and Power Point. The applications are covered in your practical sessions in the computer laboratory. To help you in the laboratory work, we developed a practical manual that shall be used together with this module.
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