![]() The HP 9800 series, which started out as programmable calculators in 1971 but was programmable in BASIC by 1972, used a smaller version of a minicomputer design based on ROM memory and had small one-line LED alphanumeric displays and displayed graphics with a plotter. 1970 saw the introduction of the Datapoint 2200, a "smart" computer terminal complete with keyboard and monitor, was designed to connect with a mainframe computer but that didn't stop owners from using its built-in computational abilities as a stand-alone desktop computer. It was not until the 1970s when fully programmable computers appeared that could fit entirely on top of a desk. Minicomputers, on the contrary, generally fit into one or a few refrigerator-sized racks, or, for the few smaller ones, built into a fairly large desk, not put on top of it. ![]() Early computers, and later the general purpose high throughput « mainframes», took up the space of a whole room. Prior to the widespread use of microprocessors, a computer that could fit on a desk was considered remarkably small the type of computers most commonly used were minicomputers, which, despite the name, were rather large and were "mini" only compared to the so-called " big iron".
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