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Some examples include versions of Microsoft Windows (like Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP), Apple's macOS (formerly OS X), Chrome OS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and flavors of the open source operating system Linux.
Typology: Essays (university)
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Computers categorized into several types based on generations and based on size of computers. Both types of categories work well up to now. The major four types of Computer Generations. Some of the computers occupying large buildings those can connect huge number of computers.
♦ Supercomputers:
Supercomputers are the most powerful and physically the largest by size. These are systems designed to process huge amounts of data and the fastest supercomputers can perform over one trillion calculations in a second. Supercomputers like the Cray T90 system has thousands of processors. Supercomputers cost very high and are therefore only used by large corporations, government agencies and universities that can afford them.
♦ Mainframe Computers:
Mainframe computers are very large often filling an entire room and can process thousands of millions of instructions per second. They are used in large private and government organizations like insurance companies and banks where many people need frequent access to information. In a mainframe environment, users connect to the mainframe through the many terminals wired to the mainframe. Mainframes are capable of supporting hundreds to thousands of users simultaneously.
♦ Minicomputers:
Minicomputers are much smaller than mainframes and are also less expensive. Sometimes referred to as Midrange Server or Midrange Computer, they are typically larger, more powerful and more expensive than desktop computers. Midrange computers are usually used by small and medium-sized businesses as their servers. Users connect to the server through a network by using desktop computers, notebooks, thin clients or dumb terminals. They are also used by hospitals as well as in school computer laboratories.
♦ Microcomputers:
Microcomputers are the most frequently used type of computer. A microcomputer is a small computer system designed to be used by one person at a time. The various sizes of microcomputers can be grouped into desktop computers and portable computers.
a. (^) Desktop computers are the conventional ones which fit on a desk and usually consists of a system unit, monitor, keyboard, and a mouse. These computers have desktop cases designed to be placed horizontally on a desk’s surface, usually with the monitor sitting on top of the system unit. Today the most common type of desktop computer uses a system unit called the Tower which is designed to sit vertically on the floor or the table.
generation computers use keyboard and Operating system those provide high efficiency to the users.
♦ Fourth Generation: Microprocessors (1971-Present)
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer from the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls on a single chip.
In 1981 IBM introduced its first computer for the home user, and in 1984 Apple introduced the Macintosh. Microprocessors also moved out of the realm of desktop computers and into many areas of life as more and more everyday products began to use microprocessors.
As these small computers became more powerful, they could be linked together to form networks, which eventually led to the development of the Internet. Fourth generation computers also saw the development of GUIs, the mouse and handheld devices
♦ (^) Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence (Present and Beyond)
Fifth generation computers are in designing mode with Artificial Intelligence technology. The applications will go to install in this generation computers those are voice reorganization techniques and parallel processing techniques. Those may be useful to the nano technology, quantum technology and etc. Fifth generation computing devices offer self-learning and self- organization features to the users.
Intel already had products like Core 2 duo and Quad-core before they launched their i3, i5, i series. Processor named i2, i4, i6- customers could have confused i2 with core 2 duo and i with quad-core. I-series of microprocessors from Intel has certainly more to do than just about the number of cores.
All core i3 series processors have: 2 cores
All core i5 series processors have: either 2 or 4 cores
All core i7 series processors have: either 4 or 6 cores
As Intel entered into the world of more than one core microprocessors and they were going even further to give boost to processing power of microprocessors they came up with this idea of having a new series to create categories of such microprocessors.
There are three variants, Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7, but the names no longer correspond to specific technical features like the number of cores. Instead, the brand is now divided from low-level (i3), through mid-range (i5) to high-end performance (i7), which correspond to three, four and five stars in Intel's Intel Processor Rating.
It is also related to the cache memory. For i3: Cache- 3-4 MB--average=3.
Rounding off to the floor value= 3 For i5: Cache- 3-8 MB--average=5. Rounding off to the floor value= 5 For i7: Cache- 3-12 MB--average=7. Rounding off to the floor value= 7
♦ The First Generation (1940's to early 1950's)
When electronic computers were first introduced in the 1940's they were created without any operating systems. All programming was done in absolute machine language, often by wiring up plugboards to control the machine's basic functions. During this generation computers were generally used to solve simple math calculations; operating systems were not necessarily needed.
♦ The Second Generation (1955-1965)
The first operating system was introduced in the early 1950's, it was called GMOS and was created by General Motors for IBM's machine the 701. Operating systems in the 1950's were called single-stream batch processing systems because the data was submitted in groups. These new machines were called mainframes, and they were used by professional operators in large computer rooms. Since there was such as high price tag on these machines, only government agencies or large corporations were able to afford them.
♦ The Third Generation (1965-1980)
In the 1960s, the rise of the integrated circuit launched the power of computers, and operating systems responded by becoming increasingly complex and offering new techniques.
a. Multiprogramming: In this technique, the main memory already holds more than one program, and the operating system is responsible for allocating the machine’s resources to execute tasks based on existing needs. Timeshare: This is a system that assigns the execution of applications within a group of users working online.
b. Real time: it is used specially in the area of telecommunications, it is responsible for processing events external to the computer, so that, once a certain time has passed without success, it considers them as failed.
c. Multiprocessor: these are systems that try to manage the readings and writings made in memory by two programs that are running simultaneously, in order to avoid errors. As their name suggests, they are designed for use in computers that use more than one processor.
The operating systems of this decade are still available only to highly qualified users, and their complexity means that they consume a large amount of resources. Among the most outstanding, in addition to UNIX, we find MULTICS, BDOS and CP/M, widely used in computers with Intel microprocessor.
