Description

The magnitude of technological advancement even within the third generation can be shown by comparing two disk transport systems, the IBM 2314 and the IBM 3330, from the late 1961s and early 1970s. The 2314 utilised removable pack a piece of information could be assessed in an average of 75 milliseconds, and information could be read into memory at a rate in excess of 800,000 characters per second. As processing speeds and storage capabilities were increasing, the size and price of the machinery were decreasing. By the early 1970s, computers appeared on the market that were comparatively so small and inexpensive that they warranted the label of minicomputer. Slower and less powerful than their contemporary larger counterpartsTable of Contentsminicomputers processed capabilities that matched and exceeded the most sopnisticated secondgeneration computer of barely a decade before

The magnitude of technological advancement even within the third generation can be shown by comparing two disk transport systems, the IBM 2314 and the IBM 3330, from the late 1961s and early 1970s. The 2314 utilised removable pack a piece of information could be assessed in an average of 75 milliseconds, and information could be read into memory at a rate in excess of 800,000 characters per second. As processing speeds and storage capabilities were increasing, the size and price of the machinery were decreasing. By the early 1970s, computers appeared on the market that were comparatively so small and...  Read More