Desk-size computers / Supercomputers / Mainframes

Terminology

Desk-size Computers, as a slang of MiniComputers due to their size and usual appearance, are a type of smaller general-purpose computer with size, price, and extensibility less than a mainframe computer, but still higher than microcomputers, later commonly known as personal computers (PCs). Usage and demands of minicomputers have greatly shrunk and are being taken over by PC-based server clusters over the years, but some of them are still serving irreplaceable roles for their high reliability and extensibility.

Supercomputers are computers specifically built for high-performance mathematical/scientific calculation with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer.

Mainframes are high-performance computers with large amounts of memory and data processors that process billions of simple calculations and transactions in real-time. A mainframe computer is critical to commercial databases, transaction servers, and applications that require high resiliency, security, and agility. Like minicomputers, usage and demands have greatly shrunk and are being taken over by PC-based server clusters over the years, but some of them are still serving irreplaceable roles for their high reliability, extensibility, and less hassle for handling distributed computing in clusters.

Notice that the identification and distinction between PC-based clusters/servers, minicomputers, mainframes, and supercomputers aren't based on size, performance, or price, but system architecture, extensibility, and reliability; As integrated circuit technology evolves, a mainframe could be the size of a minicomputer (e.g. IBM System 390 Integrated Server 3006), a minicomputer could be a size of a relatively big personal computer/PC based server (e.g. IBM i5 515), while a regular laptop PC could achieve the performance of multi-million dollar mainframe in 1980s just by emulating it.

Comparison

Category	Mainframe	Minicomputer	PC	PC-based cluster	Supercomputer
System Architecture	Large scaled, sophisticated, self-contained devices interconnected with a proprietary bus	Between PC and mainframe, some devices are self-contained and directly interconnected while others rely on the central processor and system bus	Most to all components rely on the motherboard, central processor, power supply, and system bus	Large amounts of self-contained PCs interconnected with Ethernet or other networking standards e.g. InfiniBand	Large amounts of computation nodes interconnected with a proprietary bus, while each node may or may not be self-contained
Statistic Reliability	Exceeding 99.99999% uptime per year; individual components failing won't cause performance or capacity issues	99.999% to 99.9999% uptime per year; individual components failing may cripple performance or capacity, but won't affect current tasks (unless some critical components)	Poorly built ones could run into trouble every few hours under a high burden; unplanned downtime of proper prebuilt servers is around a few minutes to 1 hour per month; individual components failing always break all current tasks	Varies (usually less than 99.9999% per year) depending on SLAs and configuration; each node follows the failure model of regular PC-based servers; nodes failing may cripple performance or capacity, but won't affect current tasks	Not a priority, some supercomputers even run periodically every day; nodes failing may cripple performance or capacity, and may break current tasks
Servicability	Most of the components and devices including critical ones are hot swappable without prerequisites; swapping components and devices won't interrupt current tasks	Critical components are hot swappable after a proper stopping procedure, while peripherals may be hot swappable without prerequisites; swapping components and devices may interrupt current tasks	Some peripherals are hot swappable after a proper stopping procedure, while critical components aren't; swapping components almost always interrupts current tasks	Nodes are hot swappable with or without a proper stopping procedure, while components of each node follow regular PCs; swapping nodes won't interrupt current tasks	Nodes are hot swappable with or without a proper stopping procedure, while components inside nodes may not even be serviceable depending on the actual design; swapping nodes may interrupt current tasks
Redundancy	Multiple redundancy and backup at components and devices level; device-as-a-whole level redundancy is optional and seldom used	Redundancy at components and devices level; device-as-a-whole level redundancy is optional and sometimes used	Data and power redundancy could be achieved by practices and external devices like RAID, ECC RAM, UPS etc., otherwise no. Device-as-a-whole level redundancy is always used if better reliability needed	Redundancy relying on large amounts of nodes, each node itself is not redundant; Software has to be programmed in a way to handle tasking reordering and data consistency in case of node failing	Not a priority; nodes aren't redundant and software seldom considers node failing as tasks are usually parallel to make use of peak performance
Extensibility	Highly customizable and capable as each device is self-contained	Highly customizable and capable but more restrictions	Restricted; All components relying on the central processor, power supply, and system bus; direct communication between peripherals are usually not possible	Extension of scale relies on adding nodes	Extension of scale relies on adding nodes
Compatibility	Highly concerned; OS is running on top of HAL/LIC so changes of system architecture won't affect OS; OS is designed to be always API/ABI stable	Highly concerned; OS is running on top of HAL/LIC so changes of system architecture won't affect OS; OS is designed to be always API/ABI stable	Concerned but based on system architecture (PC/AT & x86) not changing much over the years; OS are architecture and hardware dependent and aren't always designed to be API/ABI stable	Same as PC; programs have to be reworked if not designed with distributed computing in mind	Least concerned; programs are usually specifically built for specific supercomputer; sometimes supercomputers are even built for a specific task (e.g. Anton series)

List of Desk-size computers / Supercomputers / Mainframes

Desk-size computers / Supercomputers / Mainframes

Model	Year	MAME support	ROMs	Description / Emulators / Other
A A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Analytical Engine by Charles Babbage	1837	None		Simulator, Wikipedia
Analytical Engine by Percy Ludgate	1909	None		Wikipedia
Apollo Guidance Computer	1966	None		Virtual AGC, Moonjs
AT&T 3B Series	1982	Preliminary
Atomic Energy Authority Witch	1948	None		Old Computers
B A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
BBN Butterfly	~ 1980s	None
Bell Labs Model V	1946	None
Bombe	1940	None		Wikipedia
Bendix G-15	1956	None
Bull Gamma Tambour	1955	None		Gamma EmulaTion
Buromaschinenwerke Zella-Mehlis Cellatron 8205	1963	None		Old Computers
C A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
CDC 160 Series	1960	None
CDC 1604	1960	None
CDC 3000 Series	1963	None
CDC 6000 Series	1964	None
CDC 7600	1967	None
CDC Cyber	1984	None
CDC Star-100	1974	None
Colossus Mark 2	1944	None		Wikipedia
Compumedic Analog Computer	1971	None		Old Computers
Convex C3800	1991	None		Old Computers
Cray Research C90	1991	None
Cray Research Cray-1	1975	None
Cray Research Cray-2	1985	None
Cray Research EL90	1993	None
Cray Research J90	1994	None
Cray Research T3D	1993	None		Old Computers
Cray Research T90	1995	None
Cray Research X-MP	1982	None		cray-sim
Cray Research XMS	1990	None
Cray Research Y-MP	1988 (Y-MP) 1992 (Y-MP EL)	None		cray-sim
Csiro Csirac	1949	None		CSIRAC Emulator
D A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Data General Nova	1969	None		Novas Are Forever, DasherG
Data General Eclipse	1974	None		Novas Are Forever, mvemg
Datatron 205	1954	None		Retro 205
DEC PDP-1	1961	Good		SIMH, Spacewar! Emulator
DEC PDP-8	1965	None		Old Computers
DEC PDP-11	1970	Preliminary		SIMH, Javascript Ersatz-11
DEC VAX-11	1977 to 1984	Preliminary (VAX-11/785)		SIMH, Charon-VAX
E A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
EDSAC	1947	None		Simulator, Edsac Replica Project
Elliot 803 / Elliot 903B	1961	None		Peter Onion, hxw's repository, Simulation
English Electric Deuce	1955	None
Evans & Sutherland ES-1	1986	None
Evans & Sutherland ESIG-2000	1991	None		Developed by Evans & Sutherland, the ESIG-2000 was designed for simulations and high-end 3D Graphics
F A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Ferranti-Packard 6000	1962	None
Ferranti Atlas	1962	None
Ferranti Mark 1	1951	None
Ferranti Pegasus 1 / 2	1956 to 1959	None		PegEm
Ferranti Titan	1964	None
Fujitsu Facom M series	1974	None		OSIV/XSP Enabling Kit for PRIMEQUEST PC-Based Server
Fujitsu Facom VP series	1982	None
Fujitsu Numerical Wind Tunnel	1993	None
Fujitsu VP2000 series	1990	None
G A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
General Electric GE-200 series	1961 (GE-225) 1963 (GE-215) 1964 (GE-205) 1964 (GE-235)	None
General Electric GE-600 series	1963	None
Goodyear MPP	1983	None
GRI Corporation GRI-909 / GRI-99	1969	None		SIMH
H A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Heathkit EC-1	1960	None		Old Computers
Honeywell 116 / 316 / 416 / 516	1965 to 1969	None		SIMH
HP-2100 Series	1966	Preliminary		SIMH
I A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
IBM 650	1954	None		Wikipedia IBM650
IBM 701	1952	None		Wikipedia IBM 701 Emulator
IBM 702	1955	None		Wikipedia
IBM 704	1954	None		Wikipedia Sim704
IBM 1401 / 1620 / 1130 / 7090	1959 (1401 / 1620 / 7090) 1965 (1130)	None		IBM 1401 Programming SIMH IBM1401
IBM AN/FSQ-7	1958	None		Old Computers
IBM ASCI White	2000	None
IBM Harvard Mark I	1944	None		Old Computers
IBM NORC	1954	None		Wikipedia
IBM SSEC	1948	None		Wikipedia
IBM System/3	1969	None		Old Computers SIMH
IBM System/36	1983	None		Open/36 - probably lost in history Infinite36
IBM System370 / ESA390	1970	None		Hercules
IBM z Systems	2000	None		IBM Z Development and Test Environment Hercules
IBM AS/400 / System i	1988	None		BABY AS/2000 - probably lost in history Infinite i System i series merged into System p series after IBM Power5 series hardware.
IBM RS/6000 / System p	1990	None		QEMU IBM i operating system is not yet supported despite the System i series merged into System p.
ICL 2900 Series	1974	None
ICL Series 39	1985	None
Intel ASCI Red	1997	None
Intel iPSC Series	1985	None
Intel Paragon	1992	None
Interdata (Perkin-Elmer) 16 & 32 bits Systems	1973	None		SIMH
L A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Librascope AN/ASN-24	1958	None
Librascope L2010	1962	None
Librascope LGP-21	1962	None
Librascope LGP-30	1956	None
Librascope LGP-4000	1960	None
Lucasfilm EditDroid	1984	None
Lund University Smil	1956	None		Wikipedia SMILemu
M A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Manchester Atlas	1962	None		Wikipedia
Manchester ENIAC	1945	None
Manchester Mark I	1949	None
Manchester SSEM (Baby)	1948	Good
Maspar MP-1	1990	None
Maspar MP-2	1992	None
Meiko Computing Surface	1986	None
Meiko CS-2	1993	None
MIT Whirlwind	1951	None		Old Computers
MMN Bark	1950	None		Wikipedia
MMN Besk	1953	None		Wikipedia
N A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
NBS Seac	1950	None
NCR Century 8250	~ 1970s	None
nCUBE 2	1990	None
nCUBE/ten	1985	None
NEC System 3100 Series	1990	None		A-VX01 Operating System for Windows (as compatibility layer) IPSJ Museum
NEC Earth Simulator	2002	None
NEC SX series	1985	None
P A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Philips P/330	1978	None		Old Computers
PLATO (computer system)	1960	None
Q A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Royal-Mcbee LGP-30 / LGP-21	1956	None
S A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Scientific Data Systems SDS 940	1966	None		SIMH
Setun Ternary Computer	1958	None
SGI Altix 3000 Series	2003	None
SGI Origin 3000	2000	None
Stantec Zebra	1958	None		ZEBRA emulator
Strela (ЭВМ Стрела)	1953	None
SWTPc S-Plus	1982	None
T A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Thinking Machines CM series	1987	None
Triumph Adler TA-1000	1973	None		Old Computers
Turing Machine	1936	None		Simulator
U A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Univac Larc	1960	None
University of Cambridge Edsac	1947	None		Simulator, Edsac Replica Project
University of Illinois ILLIAC I	1952	None
X A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Xerox Sigma 9	1971	None		Living Computers
Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Zuse Z1	1938	None		Wikipedia
Zuse Z2	1940	None
Zuse Z3	1941	None		Wikipedia
Zuse Z4	1945	None		Wikipedia

Also See

• Android / iOS - This list dose not include devices that use the iOS or Android, for those, go to their respective pages.
• Laptops / Luggables / Subnotebooks / Workstations / Desktops - Some of these classes of computers have been a standard since the late 60s.
• Miscellaneous Computers

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