terminology - What is a "Mainframe"? What is a "Workstation"?
2013-08
Questioner
Recently I'm encountering these two terms frequently Mainframe & Workstation. How are they different from the computers we use? I tried wiki articles but couldn't understand.
Also Terminal means just the command prompt (it's not hardware), right?
I guess these terms were used in olden days.
Jesse Weigert
Mainframe was a large computer designed to be used by multiple people at the same time. It accomplished this by having several terminals plugged in via serial ports. And yes, they were physical terminals.
The terminals were incapable of doing anything other than display data that came in through the serial port and sending back data from the keyboard.
A workstation is what we're used to today. It's a computer which supports a single person, but is connected to other computers over a network.
Kensai
In "olden days" terms, a workstation would have been a minicomputer, smaller than a mainframe but larger than a microcomputer. Nowdays a workstation is more or less a powerful microcomputer with lots of memory and fail-safe components.
A mainframe today is a multi-component computer (diverse CPUs, for example) to run services (server-style) for things like banking transactions and online commerce.
Of course my explanations can't be as accurate as Wikipedia's so try to hit the online free encyclopedia for more information and examples both from the old days and today.
Dentrasi
The more modern meaning of workstation is a higher end computer, often used for graphics works, or other intensive tasks. They're typically made of more reliable components, often with Xeon/Opeteron processors, ECC memory and RAID, as well as having the commercial graphics cards (Nvidia's Quadro range and ATI's FireGL cards).
However, it can be used more generally to refer to a standalone PC, rather than a thin client/terminal.
Nathan DeWitt
I'm looking for a hard drive, and some of the conditions are listed as "New Pull" or "System Pull". I figure the System Pull means "taken from a computer and now sold separately" but what does New Pull mean? Does this mean it was assembled and never used? Or maybe it has been freshly pulled from a used machine?
John T
System pull means it has been taken out of a previously used system, but was tested and working. New pull means it was taken out of a system that was never used.
Andrew M.
For anyone trying to figure out what the terms new pull and new bulk mean in terms of disk drives (and other computer components), please see this link: http://www.istoragenetworks.com/avoid-bulk.php
Disk drive manufacturers (and system builders such as HP, IBM, SUN/Oracle) do not sell equipment as bulk. “Bulk pack” and “ new pull” merchandise are either factory rejected units or plain old used units that ended up in the hands of a broker that does not have the tools to properly test the equipment.
"Gnoupi" hit the nail right on when he said "new pull" is "shiesty term created by the industry." How often do you think users buy servers / workstations / SANs ,yank out all the components without using them, and post them for sale?
Users should use tools like Seagate SeaTools(http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/) to read the number of power on hours on any drive they purchase that is not factory sealed. Shamefully, we have found that just about every disk drive we have purchased (advertised as a new pull or new bulk) had thousands of power on hours recorded in the log pages.
Just about all U320 and U160 SCSI drives are out of production as of 2012. Production on the Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 U320 line of drives ended in December of 2011. Production of the Cheetah 10K.7 line of drives ended in 2007.
(Side note: I work for iStorage Networks, and the majority of products we sell are end of life disk drives.)
Gnoupi
"New pull means it was taken out of a system that was never used."
That statement is not true. It was taken out of a system for what ever reason, upgrade perhaps, but shows no signs of problems. It has been used, but no problems has been detected after a thorough check.
It's a shiesty term created by the industry.
For people looking for new and have new in their heads when new isn't available and never will be.
New Pull is a drive that is pulled from a system, that is clean and can pass for new with no failures at all. In football terms, a reliable veteran.
soandos
If you look at the fine print for sites where you can actually find a definition of terms, you will see that "New Pull" means used. It might be from a system that was never used. But it also might be a used component that is "like new".
Here is the definition from one site:
New Pull products are used more than 1 year have some scratches but are working like new.