Information Technology Topics
Second Generation of Computers
- Second generation computers employed a new technological innovation: the transistor.
- Transistors had numerous advantages over vacuum tubes: they were smaller, cheaper, and gave off less heat.
- Second generation computers used magnetic cores as their primary memory.
- These computers gave users a significant increase in available memory (about 20x). Calculation speeds also increased.
- IBM dominated the market. Two of IBM’s product lines were especially successful: the large 7000-series, and the small 1400-series