TYPE OF COMPUTER

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:

1.      Supercomputer

2.      Mainframe Computer

3.      Minicomputer

4.      Microcomputer

Supercomputer

The most powerful computers in terms of performance and data processingare 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
RANK	SITE	SYSTEM	CORES	RMAX (TFLOPS/S)	RPEAK (TFLOPS/S)	POWER (KW)
1	National Super computer in Guanzhou, China	Tianhe - 2 (MilkyWay - 2)	3,120,000	33,862.7	54,902.4	17,808
2	DOE/SC/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States	Titan - Cray XK7, Cray Inc.	560,640	17,590.0	27,112.5	8,209
3	DOE/NNSA/LLNL, United States	Sequoia - BlueGene/Q, IBM	1,572,864	17,173.2	20,132.7	7,890
4	RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) Japan	K Computer, Tofu Interconnect Fujitsu.	705,024	10,510.0	11,280.4	12,660
5	DOE/SC/Argonne National Laboratory, United States	Mira - BlueGene/Q, Custom IBM	786,432	8,586.6	10,066.3	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

·         Fujitsu’s K Computer in Japan

·         IBM’s Mira in United States

·         IBM’s SuperMUC in Germany

·         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

·         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

·         K-202

·         Texas Instrument TI-990

·         SDS-92

·         IBM Midrange computers

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.

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COMPUTER HISTORY

The development of electronic computers can be divided into five generations depending upon the technologies used. The following are the five generations of computers.

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. The first generation computers were used during 1942-1955. 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.

·         Vacuum tube technology made possible to make electronic digital computers.

·         These computers could calculate data in millisecond.

Disadvantages

·         The computers were very large in size.

·         They consumed a large amount of energy.

·         They heated very soon due to thousands of vacuum tubes.

·         They were not very reliable.

·         Air conditioning was required.

·         Constant maintenance was required.

·         Non-portable.

·         Costly commercial production.

·         Limited commercial use.

·         Very slow speed.

·         Limited programming capabilities.

·         Used machine language only.

·         Used magnetic drums which provide very less data storage.

·         Used punch cards for input.

·         Not versatile and very faulty.

Second Generation Computers (1955-1964)

The second generation computers used transistors. The scientists at Bell laboratories developed transistor in 1947. These scientists include John Barden, William Brattain and William Shockley. The size of the computers was decreased by replacing vacuum tubes with transistors. The examples of second generation computers are IBM 7094 series, IBM 1400 series and CDC 164 etc.

Advantages

·         Smaller in size as compared to the first generation computers.

·         The 2nd generation Computers were more reliable

·         Used less energy and were not heated.

·         Wider commercial use

·         Better portability as compared to the first generation computers.

·         Better speed and could calculate data in microseconds

·         Used faster peripherals like tape drives, magnetic disks, printer etc.

·         Used Assembly language instead of Machine language.

·         Accuracy improved.

Disadvantages

·         Cooling system was required

·         Constant maintenance was required

·         Commercial production was difficult

·         Only used for specific purposes

·         Costly and not versatile

·         Puch cards were used for input.

Third Generation Computers (1964-1975)

The Third generation computers used the integrated circuits (IC). Jack 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, IBM System/360, UNIVAC 1108 and UNIVAC AC 9000 etc.

Advantages

·         Smaller in size as compared to previous generations.

·         More reliable.

·         Used less energy

·         Produced less heat as compared to the previous two generations of computers.

·         Better speed and could calculate data in nanoseconds.

·         Used fan for heat discharge to prevent damage.

·         Maintenance cost was low because hardware failure is reare.

·         Totally general purpose

·         Could be used for high-level languages.

·         Good storage

·         Versatile to an extent

·         Less expensive

·         Better accuracy

·         Commercial production increased.

·         Used mouse and keyboard for input.

Disadvantages

·         Air conditioning was required.

·         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.

Advantages

·         More powerful and reliable than previous generations.

·         Small in size

·         Fast processing power with less power consumption

·         Fan for heat discharging and thus to keep cold.

·         No air conditioning required.

·         Totally general purpose

·         Commercial production

·         Less need of repair.

·         Cheapest among all generations

·         All types of High level languages can be used in this type of computers

Disadvantages

·         The latest technology is required for manufacturing of Microprocessors.

Fifth Generation Computers (Present & Beyond)

Scientists are working hard on the 5th generation computers with quite a few breakthroughs. It is based on the technique of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Computers can understand spoken words & imitate human reasoning. Can respond to its surroundings using different types of sensors. Scientists are constantly working to increase the processing power of computers. They are trying to create a computer with real IQ with the help of advanced programming and technologies. IBM Watson computeris one example that outsmarts Harvard University Students. The advancement in modern technologies will revolutionize the computer in future

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