Micro Computer

1. Microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers.

2. Microcomputers are the smallest of the four classes of computer (the others are supercomputer, mainframe, and minicomputer).

3. Many microcomputers (when equipped with a keyboard and screen for input and output) are also personal computers (in the generic sense).

Micro Computer

3. The term "Microcomputer" came into popular use after the introduction of the minicomputer, although Isaac Asimov used the term microcomputer in his short story "The Dying Night" as early as 1956 (published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in July that year)

4. In common usage, "microcomputer" has been largely supplanted by the description "personal computer" or "PC," which describes that it has been designed to be used by one person at a time.

5. IBM first promoted the term "personal computer" to differentiate themselves from other microcomputers, often called "home computers", and also IBM's own mainframes and minicomputers. Unfortunately for IBM, the microcomputer itself was widely imitated, as well as the term. The component parts were commonly available to producers and the BIOS was reverse engineered through cleanroom design techniques. IBM PC compatible "clones" became commonplace, and the terms "personal computer," and especially "PC" stuck with the general public.

6. Monitors, keyboards and other devices for input and output may be integrated or separate.

7. Computer memory in the form of RAM, and at least one other less volatile, memory storage device are usually combined with the CPU on a system bus in one unit. Other devices that make up a complete microcomputer system include batteries, a power supply unit, a keyboard and various input/output devices used to convey information to and from a human operator (printers, monitors, human interface devices).

8. Microcomputers are designed to serve only one user at a time, although they can often be modified with software or hardware to concurrently serve more than one user. Microcomputers fit well on or under desks or tables, so that they are within easy access of users.

Posted in: Types of Computer