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This gets even more confusing when you consider that IBM released a number of mainframes smaller than many of their midrange systems, including both System/370
by jasomill 2y ago
This gets even more confusing when you consider that IBM released a number of mainframes smaller than many of their midrange systems, including both System/370 and System/390 systems implemented as PC expansion cards (ISA, MCA, and PCI).
Ultimately, within IBM at least, "mainframe" ended up just referring to any computer that implemented the System/360 architecture or its descendants.
Outside IBM, I've seen the term applied to just about any multiuser system accessed primarily through a terminal interface, including x86 servers running Linux, though typically by nontechnical users.