History of computer hardware ielts reading answers
Answers
due to quality has improved and cost has merely reduced
Answer:
Computer hardware developed in 4th gen
Explanation:
Solution
Beginning in 1960, the transition from vacuum tubes to solid-state electronics such as transistors and, eventually, integrated circuits shaped the development of computing technology. By 1959, discrete transistors had proven to be sufficiently dependable and cost-effective to render vacuum tube computers obsolete. Computer primary memory gradually shifted away from magnetic core memory devices and toward solid-state static and dynamic semiconductor memory, resulting in significant cost, size, and power savings.
Third generation
With the advent of 'Third Generation' computers, the mass adoption of computers intensified. These were based on Jack Kilby's discovery of the integrated circuit (or a microchip), which became commercially available around 1966.
The first integrated circuit was produced in September 1958, and computers based on it began to appear in the early 1960s. For example, Texas Instruments built the first monolithic integrated circuit general-purpose computer (programmed to simulate a desk calculator) for the US Air Force in 1961.
Embedded systems were one of their first applications, as seen in NASA's Apollo Guidance Computer, the military's LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile, Honeywell's ALERT airborne computer, and others.
The 1965 SDS 92 was one of the first commercial applications. IBM employed integrated circuits in computers for the first time in the System/360 Model 85, which was delivered in 1969, and then extensively in the System/370, which began shipping in 1971.
The integrated circuit allowed for the creation of considerably more compact computers. In the 1960s and 1970s, the minicomputer was a notable advancement. It made computing power more accessible to a wider range of individuals, not only by reducing the physical size of computers but also by expanding the computer vendor field. With their successful PDP and VAX computer systems, Digital Equipment Corporation overtook IBM as the second-largest computer manufacturer. Smaller, more cheap technology prompted the creation of major new operating systems like Unix.
Third-generation computers were available long into the 1990s, with the IBM ES9000 9X2 introduced in April 1994 using 5,960 ECL chips to create a 10-way processor. In the 1990s, other third-generation computers included the DEC VAX 9000 (1989), which used ECL gate arrays and bespoke circuits, and the Cray T90 (1995).
Fourth generation
The invention of the microprocessor by a team at Intel served as the foundation for the fourth generation.
Minicomputers of the third generation were essentially scaled-down copies of mainframe computers, whereas the fourth generation's beginnings are radically different.
Microprocessor-based computers were never intended to be a downsized version of the minicomputer due to their processing power and speed limitations. They were speaking to a whole different market.
Since the 1970s, processing power and storage capacity have increased dramatically, but the underlying technology of large-scale integration (LSI) or very-large-scale integration (VLSI) microchips has remained essentially the same, therefore most modern computers are still classified as the fourth generation.
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