A very large and expensive computer <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/computer.html> capable of supporting hundreds, or even thousands, of users <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/user.html> simultaneously. In the hierarchy that starts with a simple microprocessor <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/microprocessor.html> (in watches, for example) at the bottom and moves to supercomputers <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/supercomputer.html> at the top, mainframes are just below supercomputers. In some ways, mainframes are more powerful than supercomputers because they support <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/support.html> more simultaneous programs <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/program.html>. But supercomputers can execute <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/execute.html> a single program <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/mainframe.html#> faster than a mainframe. The distinction between small mainframes and minicomputers <http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/M/minicomputer.html> is vague, depending really on how the manufacturer wants to market its machines.
Now I am really confused ... is a web server a main frame? It serves many terminals. Is an Mac G5 a mainframe? It is classsified as a super computer. is the four foot stack that constitutes a single sparc server in my lounge a main frame ... is is encased in a frame with the processors seperate to the hard drivers whixch are seperate to the power supply which are ...
Then I noticed the word expensive ... and immediately knew what a mainframe is ... any computer loaded with MS Office Pro, MS XP Pro and or Server 2003. Very expensive, especially if it is still able to run and support multiple users and programs and terminals ( especially terminals as you need to buy and expensive license per MS Terminal Server Client).
I wonder if MS knew it named its server so appropriately ... Terminal Server (you die of bordom wiating for it or heart attack through the frustration of using and maintaining it). They might as well have called it the you will die server , the Tod Server, Death I ncarnate in Software Server. ...
Darn I must be sick ... where did that ramble come from.
Anyway, what mainframe does this book claim to support? If it is an AS400 or similar I might be interested ...
Shane
John Carter wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2005, Nick Rout wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2005 14:20:15 +1200 (NZST) Wesley Parish wrote:
Sounds like my cup-o'-tea! Looks like I'll have to visit Northlands A.S.A.P. ;)
This is what we all love about Wesley, lives in Sumner, only transport is a bike,
He has a Bike.
He has a Mainframe.
He lives in Sumner.
Shortly he will have Linux on a Mainframe.
What more do you need in Life?
ps: In this day and age of CD's and DVD's the difference between books and distros is remarkably small. Fr'instance, most books on DeadBat come with a disk or three full of DeadBat. So are they books or distros?
The item in the warehouse is a book, whether it comes with a CD or not I don't know.
John Carter Phone : (64)(3) 358 6639 Tait Electronics Fax : (64)(3) 359 4632 PO Box 1645 Christchurch Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED] New Zealand
Somewhere on the edge of a Galaxy, one of literally billions of such galaxies, is a sun, one of literally billions of suns in that galaxy.
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