what is a minicomputer

A minicomputer refers toa high-performance computer whose operating principle is similar to that of a PC (personal computer) and server, but its performance and purpose are completely different from them . Performance Computing Products. Minicomputers have a unique architecture that distinguishes PCs and their servers, as well as their own patented technologies, and some also usededicated processors for minicomputers . For example, the minicomputers of companies such as Sun in the United States and Fujitsu in Japanare based on SPARC The processor architectureis based on the PA-RISC architecture of HP , and the Alpha architecture of Compaq . In addition, the I/O bus is not the same, Fujitsu is PCI , Sun is SBUS, and so on. This means that the cards on the minicomputer machines of various companies, such as network cards, graphics cards, SCSI cards, etc., may also be dedicated. In addition, the operating system used by minicomputers isgenerally based on Unix, such as Sun and Fujitsu using Sun Solaris, HP using HP-Unix, and IBM using AIX. So a minicomputer is a closed, dedicated computer system. Users who use minicomputers are generally interested in the security, reliability and high-speed computing capabilities of dedicated servers of the Unix operating system.
   
    Now the main manufacturers of minicomputers are IBM and HP, Inspur, Dawning and so on. Typical IBM machines are RS/6000, AS/400 and so on. Their main feature is that the annual downtime is only a few hours, so they are collectively referred to as the z series (zero zero). AS/400 is mainly used in banking and manufacturing, as well as Domino. The main technology lies in TIMI (Technology Independent Machine Interface), single-level storage, with TIMI technology, hardware and software can be independent of each other. RS/6000 is more common and is used for scientific computing and transaction processing.