Editing Minicomputer (section)

=== 1960s and 1970s success ===
Most computing histories point to the 1964 introduction of [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s (DEC) [[12-bit]] [[PDP-8]] as the first minicomputer.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrMkBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 |title= The Computing Universe: A Journey through a Revolution |first1= Tony |last1=Hey |first2=Anthony |last2=Hey |first3=Gyuri |last3=Pápay |date= 2014 |page=165|publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 9780521766456}}</ref> Some of this is no doubt due to DEC's widespread use of the term starting in the mid-1960s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/pictures/decs-40-years-of-innovation/4/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011075642/http://www.zdnet.com/pictures/decs-40-years-of-innovation/4/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 11, 2017|title=DEC's 40 years of innovation |page=4 |first=Rupert |last=Goodwins|website=[[ZDNet]] |date=February 12, 2011|quote=The term was coined by then DEC UK head John Leng, who sent a sales report saying, "Here is the latest minicomputer activity in the land of miniskirts as I drive around in my Mini Minor".}}</ref> Smaller systems, including those from DEC such as the [[PDP-5]] and [[LINC]],<ref>{{cite web |title=The LINC: An Early "Personal Computer" |work=DrDobbs.com |url=http://www.drdobbs.com/the-linc-an-early-personal-computer/184404067}}</ref> had existed prior to this point, but it was the PDP-8 combination of small size, general purpose orientation and low price that puts it firmly within the modern definition. Its introductory price of $18,500<ref name=LowPrice>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/faqs/|title=The Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 — Frequently Asked Questions|first=Douglas |last=Jones|author-link=Douglas W. Jones}}</ref> ({{Inflation|US|18500|1965|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) places it in an entirely different market segment than earlier examples such as the CDC 160.

In contemporary terms, the PDP-8 was a runaway success, ultimately selling 50,000 examples.{{efn|For comparison, the CDC 160 sold about 50 units.}} Follow-on versions using small scale [[integrated circuit]]s further lowered the cost and size of the system. Its success led to widespread imitation, and the creation of an entire industry of minicomputer companies along [[Massachusetts Route 128]], including [[Data General]], [[Wang Laboratories]] and [[Prime Computer]]. Other popular minis from the era were the [[HP 2100]], [[Honeywell 316]] and [[TI-990]].
[[File:Raytheon RDS 500 configured as Com*MAND II seismic processing system.jpg|thumb|Raytheon RDS 500 seismic processing system in [[Benghazi]] in 1978]]
[[File:Varian_data_machines_minicomputer.jpg|thumb|[[Varian Data Machines]] system connected to analogue tape playback system in 1984]]
Early minis had a variety of [[Word (computer architecture)|word sizes]], with DEC's 12 and 18-bit systems being typical examples. The introduction and standardization of the 7-bit [[ASCII]] character set led to the move to 16-bit systems, with the late-1969 [[Data General Nova]] being a notable entry in this space. By the early 1970s, most minis were 16-bit, including DEC's [[PDP-11]]. For a time, "minicomputer" was almost synonymous with "16-bit", as the larger mainframe machines almost always used 32-bit or larger word sizes.
In a 1970 survey, ''[[The New York Times]]'' suggested a consensus definition of a minicomputer as a machine costing less than {{USD|25000}} ({{Inflation|US|25000|1970|fmt=eq|r=-3}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}), with an input-output device such as a [[teleprinter]] and at least four thousand words of memory, that is capable of running programs in a [[higher level language]], such as [[Fortran]] or [[BASIC]].<ref name="Smith 1970">{{cite news | title=Maxi Computers Face Mini Conflict: Mini Trend Reaching Computers | last=Smith |first=William D. | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=April 5, 1970|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/05/archives/maxi-computers-face-mini-conflict-mini-trend-reaching-computers.html}}</ref> The typical customer was a department in a large company, at which the finance department's mainframe was too busy to serve others.{{r|rdbmslateryears20070612}}

[[File:RDS 704 onsite seismic processing system.jpg|thumb|Raytheon RDS 704 onsite seismic processing system in [[Mogadishu]] in 1974]]
As [[integrated circuit]] design improved, especially with the introduction of the [[7400-series integrated circuits]], minicomputers became smaller, easier to manufacture, and as a result, less expensive. They were used in manufacturing process control, telephone switching and to control laboratory equipment. In the 1970s, they were the hardware that was used to launch the [[computer-aided design]] (CAD) industry<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www6.dict.cc/wp_examples.php?lp_id=1%26lang=en%26s=computer%2520aided%2520design |title=Computer-aided design}}</ref> and other similar industries where a small dedicated system was needed.

The boom in worldwide [[seismic exploration]] for oil and gas in the early 1970s saw the widespread use of minicomputers in dedicated processing centres close to the data collection crews. Raytheon Data Systems RDS 704 and later RDS 500 were predominantly the systems of choice for nearly all the geophysical exploration as well as oil companies.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OxTAr_FX-foC&q=raytheon+rds+500&pg=PA30 |title=Raytheon Data Systems advertisement |magazine=Computerworld|issn=0010-4841|volume=9|issue=38|date=September 17, 1975|page=30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lawyer |first1=Lee C |last2=Bates |first2=Charles Carpenter |last3=Rice |first3=Robert B |date=2001 |title=Geophysics in the Affairs of Mankind |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lf7y8NncSOkC&dq=raytheon%20seismic&pg=PA269 |publisher=SEG Books |isbn=978-1-56080-087-3 }}</ref>

At the launch of the [[MITS Altair 8800]] in 1975, ''[[Radio Electronics]]'' magazine referred to the system as a "minicomputer", although the term [[microcomputer]] soon became usual for personal computers based on single-chip [[microprocessor]]s. At the time, microcomputers were 8-bit single-user, relatively simple machines running simple program-launcher operating systems such as [[CP/M]] or [[MS-DOS]], while minis were much more powerful systems that ran full multi-user, [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]] operating systems, such as [[OpenVMS|VMS]] and [[Unix]].

The [[Tandem Computers]] NonStop product line shipped its first fully fault-tolerant cluster computer in 1976.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Winter 1986 |title=Tandem History: An Introduction |journal=Center Magazine: A Newsletter for Tandem Employees |volume=6 |issue=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=January 1986 |title=Tracing Tandem's History |journal=NonStop News: A Newsletter for Tandem Employees |volume=9 |issue=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of TANDEM COMPUTERS, INC. – FundingUniverse |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/tandem-computers-inc-history/ |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}</ref>

Around the same time, minis began to move upward in size. Although several 24 and 32-bit minis had entered the market earlier, it was DEC's 1977 [[VAX]], which they referred to as a [[superminicomputer]], or supermini, that caused the mini market to move en-masse to [[32-bit]] architectures. This provided ample headroom even as single-chip 16-bit microprocessors such as the [[TMS 9900]] and [[Zilog Z8000]] appeared in the later 1970s. Most mini vendors introduced their own single-chip processors based on their own architecture and used these mostly in low-cost offerings while concentrating on their 32-bit systems. Examples include the [[Intersil 6100]] single-chip PDP-8, [[DEC T-11]] PDP-11, microNOVA and [[Fairchild 9440]] Nova, and [[TMS9900]] TI-990.