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Minicomputers
There are three eras of computers: the mainframe, minicomputer, and the microcomputer. The IBM mainframe was large, taking up entire floors, and very costly.
Minicomputer: A medium sized computer, usually fitting within a single cabinet, serving the needs of multiple users within a small organizational unit. Has more memory and a higher execution speed than a microcomputer.
The minicomputer ancestors of the modern personal computer used early integrated circuit (microchip) technology, which reduced size and cost, but they contained no microprocessor.
Esri's original product, ARC/INFO, was a command line GIS product available initially on minicomputers, then on UNIX workstations. In 1992, a GUI GIS, ArcView GIS, was introduced.
Adaptation and dev elopment of hardware and software for a commercial remote sensing system, I2S, on GCM minicomputers played a major role in the analysis of electron micrographs and display of chromosome structures.
Fleet, H., 1986. "SAGIS: a full-function public-domain GIS for micro and minicomputers," p. 301.
Reeve, C. and J. Smith, 1986. "The varied viewpoints of GIS justification: a survey of vendors and users," p. 396.
After the emergence of smaller "minicomputer" designs in the early 1970s, the traditional big iron machines were described as "mainframe computers" and eventually just as mainframes.
 See also: Information, Map, GIS, Access, Geographic
  
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