REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO

UNIVERSITE PROTESTANTE AU CONGO

FACULTE DES SCIENCES INFORMATIQUES (FASI)
B.P.4745-KINSHASA II

TECHNICAL ENGLISH PRACTICAL WORK

Question: Give more details about the different types of

computers

Presented by: KOYO NSUNGU Christian

Supervised by: Prof. ILALAKOY BUBARA John
Grade: Première Licence (Système LMD)

Academic year: 2021-2022

Computers were machines formerly meant for solving only mathematic
problems. But as complex these problems evolved over time, as powerful
these machines went and so far, many people noticed that these stuffs
could allow to automatically solve more than just math’s-related problems.
Today, we don’t only use them to compute mathematics equations, we
also use them to solve whatever problem of daily life such as regulating
the traffic or writing down academic practical works.
According to the range of the problems that are needing to be solved, it
particularly has been distinguished three types of computers. We have:
Micro-computers, Mini-computers and Main-frames. These types were es-
tablished through decades for accommodation purpose (size) and for
overcoming the different costs related with the speed and the power
needed for the different problems they were intended to face and solve
(processing specifications).
First, let’s introduce Micro-computers. They are the smallest and the
cheapest type of computers. Also, they are the most recent and the most
popular type of computers. They ship a microprocessor as their central
processing unit, some memory and an input/output circuitry printed on a
single circuit board. They are meant for handling a large range of problems
related to personal use. Micro-computers rose in mid-seventy/eighty’s with
the advent of increasingly powerful microprocessors. They are designed
to serve only one user at a time, although they can often be modified with
software or hardware to currently serve more than one user. They come
equipped with at least one type of data storage which is usually RAM. A
micro-computer system commonly consist of a central processing unit,
some peripherals (such as a keyboard, a mouse, a monitor, speakers…),
and a mass storage. Some can be linked to the CPU externally with wires
(or not) or directly integrated on it.
There is mainly two classes of micro-computers: Home computers and
portable computers. Home computers are micro-computer systems cre-
ated for use at a fixed place. They generally consist in a case which con-
tains the whole core circuitry, and which is externally linked to many other
peripherals. These computers require a continued supply in electricity.
Their main uses are: video games, word processing, programming, etc.

Figure 1 Illustration of a Home computer

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Portable computers, in their turn, are micro-computers designed to be eas-
ily moved from one place to another. They generally consist of a CPU cir-
cuitry and incorporate the most important peripherals in a same case.
They also ship batteries cells, thus they can be used even at places lack-
ing power supply. Their size is significantly smaller than which of Home
computers but it is not always true that their processing capabilities are
less. Some kinds of portable computers are: Laptops, smartphones, etc.

Figure 2 Illustration of a portable computer

Secondly, we have Mini-computers. They rose a little bit early than Micro-
computers, in the mid-1960s precisely and declined due to the advent of
these last ones. Computers of this type were some bigger and were made
with the aim of miniaturizing mainframes, size-speaking and costs-speak-
ing. They were designed for approximately the same purpose with micro-
computers that is to make computers more accessible by non-initiated us-
ers but with the difference that they were intended to keep from main-
frames as much capabilities as possible. Their composition is a little bit
complex, as they are first ones which came up with transistors, their cores
are a little bit messy. Even if their power was more significant than which
of micro-computers, distributed system technologies allowed these last
ones to be as powerful or more than mini-computers, which led to their
decline in the late seventy’s.

Figure 3 Illustration of a PDP-11. A mini-computer

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Finally, we have Mainframes computers. They are very high-performance
computers that are used to process large range of data. They rose in the
50’s and they served for scientific, commercial and military purpose. There
is two kinds of mainframes computers: legacy ones and Modern ones.
Legacy mainframes were the first computers of all the times. These com-
puters were made up with vacuum tubes and a lot of its electronics was
really huge. The first mainframe computer was the ENIAC (electronic nu-
merical integrator and computer) which was built in 1945 in the United
States of America these computers served along a decade before to get
step by step replaced by minicomputers thanks to the constant miniaturi-
zation of many of their components.

Figure 4 Illustration of the ENIAC mainframe

Modern mainframes are computers with a huge data processing capabili-

ties and which state as the CPU of many terminals connected on a net-
work. They are mainly used to handle internet transactions and compute
really large mathematics-related problems.

Figure 5Illustration of a modern mainframe