Generation of Computers
Generation of Computers
Limitations:
(i) These computers were very big in size. The ENIAC machine was 30 x 50 feet
in size and 30 tons in weight. So, these machines required very large space for
their workings.
(ii) Their power consumption was very high.
(iii) These computers had slow operating speed and small computing capacity.
(iv) These computers had a very small memory.
The Second Generation Computers (1956-65)
In 1948, Bell Laboratories developed the transistor. The transistor performed
the same functions as vacuum tube but was smaller and less expensive,
generated almost no heat and required less power. The development of the
transistor was soon applied to computers which reduced their size substantially,
the power required was less and had higher processing speed. IBM-700, 1401
and ATLAS are some examples of the IInd Generation Computers.
The second generation computers are IBM 1401, IBM 1620, IBM 7094 and
UNIVAC 1108.
Main Features:
(i) The computers of this generation replaced vacuum tubes with transistors.
(ii) Magnetic cores were invented for storage.
(iii) Different magnetic storage devices were developed in this generation.
(iv) Commercial applications were developed during this period. Eighty percent
of these computers were used in business and industries.
Main Features:
(i) The fourth generation computers replaced small scale integrated circuits and
medium scale
integrated circuits with the microprocessors chip.
(ii) Semiconductor memories replaced magnetic core memories.
(iii) The hard-disks are available of the sizes upto 200 GB. The RAID technology
(Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) gives storage upto thousands of GB.
(iv) Computer cost came down rapidly in this generation.
(v) Application of computers is increased in various areas like visualization,
parallel computing, multimedia etc.