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VMS is old and used to run multiuser systems and on relatively expensive machines; but they were called 'minicomputers' because they were already less huge/expe
by roywashere 6y ago
VMS is old and used to run multiuser systems and on relatively expensive machines; but they were called 'minicomputers' because they were already less huge/expensive than mainframes. And after the mini came the 'micro' which is more or less the PC as you know it.
- bdavis__ 6y agoi would call a vax a "super mini". one of the crop of 32 bit multi-user systems that came out in the 80's. a pdp-11 was a mini, it was multi-user, but the machine was weak. a 'super mini', with 16MB of memory, now that was a machine you could do great things with.
- kjs3 6y agoThe VAX succeeded the PDP, though the PDP was kept in production for many years of overlap. They're different generation of technology filling the same niche. The PDP-11/70 was the beast of it's day, and even came in a multi-processor version (the 11/74). Saying the PDP was a mini and the VAX was a supermini is like saying the 286 was a mini but the 386 was a supermini.