{Dal mainframe al personal computer}
The term "personal computer" in its original meaning indicates any computer that has been designed for the use of only one person at a time, as opposed to, for example, mainframes which were accessed by means of remote terminals and shared with many other people.
Their use was shared, and for an hour of their use you had to pay 40 euros per hour. Since the remote terminals for accessing the mainframe were connected to it by telephone lines, few people can boast of actually having seen one live.
Mainframes were capricious (unreliable) monsters who lived in protected, air-conditioned environments, were intimidating because they were big and complex, and also cost millions of dollars each.
{Il termine “personal computer” nel suo significato originale indica un qualsiasi computer che sia stato progettato per l'uso di una sola persona per volta, in contrapposizione per esempio ai mainframe ai quali si accedeva per mezzo di terminali remoti ed in modo condiviso con molte altre persone.
Il loro utilizzo era condiviso, e per un'ora del loro utilizzo si doveva pagare 40 euro ad ora. Poiché i terminali remoti per l'accesso al mainframe erano collegati ad esso mediante linee telefoniche, sono pochi quelli che possono vantarsi di averne visto realmente uno dal vivo.
I mainframes erano mostri capricciosi (inaffidabili) che abitavano in ambienti protetti e climatizzati, incutevano soggezione perché erano grossi e complessi, ed inoltre costavano milioni di dollari l'uno.}
"The computer will be more than an object to take with us
or an instrument to buy:
it will be our passport to a new media life"
(cit. Bill Gates -- The Road Ahead, 1995)
{Il computer sarà più di un oggetto da portare con noi
o di uno strumento da acquistare:
sarà il nostro passaporto per una nuova vita mediatica
(cit. Bill Gates - La strada che porta a domani, 1995)}
As computers acquired greater mobility and their cost made their purchase more affordable, the term "personal" acquired full meaning, as anyone had the opportunity to own one on their desk, avoiding shared use of mainframes.
{Quando i computer acquistarono una maggiore mobilità ed il loro costo rese più abbordabile il loro acquisto, il termine "personal" acquistò un significato pieno, in quanto chiunque ebbe la possibilità di possederne uno sulla propria scrivania, evitando l'uso condiviso dei mainframe.}
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Extract from: The portable personal computing, TILLL-Learning
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Tateo’s Interdisciplinary Lifelong Learning Project
T I L L L
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Learning, knowledge sharing and communities engagement about:
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by Tateo Giovanni Battista
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TILLL~Blog © October 16, 2021
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