Supplementary workstation upstairs is a kind of workstation based on personal computers and distributed network computing. It is mainly oriented to professional application fields and has powerful data computing and graphics and image processing capabilities. In order to meet the needs of engineering design and animation production It is a high-performance computer designed and developed for professional fields such as scientific research, software development, financial management, information services, simulation and simulation.
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer, usually equipped with a high-resolution large-screen display, large-capacity internal memory and external memory, and has strong information processing functions and high-performance graphics. , image processing functions and networking functions.
The three types of machine knowledge application fields are different. The hardware of workstations and servers are basically the same, but the applications are different. Another is that the architecture of small computers is different from servers and workstations.
The workstation is used for large-scale computing images and has powerful graphics rendering functions
The server is mainly a network shared server. As a node of the network, it stores and processes 80% of the data and information on the network, so it is also called For the soul of the Internet. To make a vivid metaphor: the server is like a switch in the post office, and fixed or mobile network terminals such as computers, notebooks, PDAs, and mobile phones are like telephones scattered in homes, various offices, public places, etc. machine. Our daily life and work communication with the outside world must go through a switch to reach the target phone number; the same is true for network terminal equipment such as microcomputers in homes and businesses to access the Internet to obtain information, communicate with the outside world, entertain, etc. It must go through the server, so it can also be said that the server "organizes" and "leads" these devices.
Minicomputer A minicomputer refers to a high-performance computer that operates similarly to PCs (personal computers) and servers, but has completely different performance and uses. It was developed by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) in the 1970s. Company) A high-performance computing product first developed by the company.
Minicomputers have a unique architecture that distinguishes PCs and servers, as well as each manufacturer's own patented technology. Some also use minicomputer-specific processors, such as Sun from the United States, Fujitsu from Japan, etc. The company's minicomputers are based on the SPARC processor architecture, while those of the US HP company are based on the PA-RISC architecture; Compaq's Alpha architecture. In addition, the I/O buses are also different, Fujitsu is PCI, Sun is SBUS, and so on. This means that the plug-in cards on each company's minicomputer machines, such as network cards, display cards, SCSI cards, etc., may also be dedicated. In addition, the operating systems used by minicomputers are generally based on Unix. Sun and Fujitsu use Sun Solaris, HP uses HP-Unix, and IBM uses AIX. Therefore, a minicomputer is a closed and dedicated computer system. Users of minicomputers generally value the security and reliability of the Unix operating system and the high-speed computing capabilities of dedicated servers.
Currently, the main manufacturers of minicomputers include IBM and HP. Typical IBM machines include RS/6000, AS/400, etc. Their main feature is that the annual downtime is only a few hours, so they are also collectively called the z series (zero). AS/400 is mainly used in banking and manufacturing, as well as Domino. The main technology is TIMI (Technology Independent Machine Interface), single-level storage. With TIMI technology, hardware and software can be independent of each other. RS/6000 is relatively common and is used for scientific computing and transaction processing.
Minicomputers are just low-price, small-scale mainframe computers. Typical minicomputers run UNIX or special operating systems such as MPE and VEM. They cost less than mainframes but have nearly the same processing power. HP's 9000 series minicomputers are nearly competitive with IBM's traditional mainframe computers.
Technologies generally used in high-end minicomputers include: RISC-based multiprocessor architecture, megabyte cache, multi-gigabyte RAM, and dedicated I/O processors. Hundreds of gigabytes of disk storage on the O channel, and a dedicated management processor. They are smaller and air-cooled, so there are no special cooling ducting requirements at the customer's site. Now there is no absolutely clear boundary between minicomputers, medium-sized computers and mainframes, because IBM has implemented many technologies that were originally only used on mainframes and medium-sized computers in minicomputers.
There is a big difference between minicomputers and ordinary servers (also known as PC-SERVER). The most important point is the high RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability) of minicomputers. High availability, high serviceability) features.