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Definition for: mainframe |
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A "mainframe" originally meant the cabinet containing the central processor unit of a very large computer. |
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After minicomputers became available, the word mainframe came to refer to the large computer itself. |
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The older computers used many large vacuum tubes and generated a lot of heat, thus requiring specially air-conditioned rooms. |
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A single computer might have hundreds of users at a time. |
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Today, because the large vacuum tubes have given way to transistors, a desktop personal computer can have as much power |
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as a mainframe computer that once filled a whole room. |
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Mainframes in use now often have smaller computers as front end processors. |
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Latest revision as of 06:25, 12 November 2007
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