Supermini
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
- A supermini is also a class of small car. See car classification.
A supermini (superminicomputer) by definition is "a minicomputer with high performance compared to ordinary minicomputers". The term was an invention used from the mid-1970s mainly to distinguish the emerging 32-bit minis from the classical 16-bit minicomputers.
Reportedly coined by DEC at their VAX announcement in 1976, the term is now largely obsolete, but still remains of interest for students/researchers of computer history. Note that superminicomputers should not be confused with the apparently similarly named minisupercomputers.
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Significant superminis
- Norsk Data Nord-5, first supermini, 1972
- Norsk Data Nord-50, 1975
- DEC VAX, 1978
- Data General Eclipse MV/8000, 1980
- Norsk Data ND-500, 1981
- Norsk Data ND-570/CX, fastest supermini, 1983, at 7.1 Whetstone MIPS
- Elxsi 6400, 1983
