" 

  

  
 

  Columbia Supercomputer.]] 

 ==Further topics== 
 ===Hardware=== 

 The term hardware covers all of those parts of a computer that are tangible objects. Circuits, displays, power supplies, cables, keyboards, printers and mice are all hardware. 

  
 {| class=""wikitable"" 
 |+History of computing hardware 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""2"" | First Generation (Mechanical/Electromechanical) || Calculators || Antikythera mechanism, Difference Engine, Norden bombsight 
 |- 
 | Programmable Devices || Jacquard loom, Analytical Engine, Harvard Mark I, Z3 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""2"" | Second Generation (Vacuum Tubes) || Calculators || Atanasoff–Berry Computer, IBM 604, UNIVAC 60, UNIVAC 120 
 |- 
 | Programmable Devices || ENIAC, EDSAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC I, IBM 701, IBM 702, IBM 650, Z22 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""2"" | Third Generation (Discrete transistors and SSI, MSI, LSI Integrated circuits) || Mainframes || IBM 7090, IBM 7080, System/360, BUNCH 
 |- 
 | Minicomputer || PDP-8, PDP-11, System/32, System/36 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""8"" | Fourth Generation (VLSI integrated circuits) || Minicomputer || VAX, IBM System i 
 |- 
 | 4-bit microcomputer || Intel 4004, Intel 4040 
 |- 
 | 8-bit microcomputer || Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Motorola 6809, MOS Technology 6502, Zilog Z80 
 |- 
 | 16-bit microcomputer || 8088, Zilog Z8000, WDC 65816/65802 
 |- 
 | 32-bit microcomputer || 80386, Pentium, 68000, ARM architecture 
 |- 
 | 64-bit microcomputerMost major 64-bit instruction set architectures are extensions of earlier designs. All of the architectures listed in this table existed in 32-bit forms before their 64-bit incarnations were introduced.|| x86-64, PowerPC, MIPS, SPARC 
 |- 
 | Embedded computer || 8048, 8051 
 |- 
 | Personal computer || Desktop computer, Home computer, Laptop computer, Personal digital assistant (PDA), Portable computer, Tablet computer, Wearable computer 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""1"" | Theoretical/experimental || Quantum computer, Chemical computer, DNA computing, Optical computer, Spintronics based computer 
 |} 

 {| class=""wikitable"" 
 |+Other Hardware Topics 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""3"" | Peripheral device (Input/output) || Input || Mouse, Keyboard, Joystick, Image scanner 
 |- 
 | Output || Monitor, Printer 
 |- 
 | Both || Floppy disk drive, Hard disk, Optical disc drive, Teleprinter 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""2"" | Computer busses || Short range || RS-232, SCSI, PCI, USB 
 |- 
 | Long range (Computer networking) || Ethernet, ATM, FDDI 
 |- 
 |} 

 ===Software=== 

 Software refers to parts of the computer which do not have a material form, such as programs, data, protocols, etc. When software is stored in hardware that cannot easily be modified (such as BIOS ROM in an IBM PC compatible), it is sometimes called ""firmware"" to indicate that it falls into an uncertain area somewhere between hardware and software. 

 {| class=""wikitable"" 
 |+Computer software 
 |- 
 | rowspan=""7"" | Operating system || Unix/BSD || UNIX System V, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris (SunOS), IRIX, List of BSD operating systems 
 |- 
 | GNU/Linux || List of Linux distributions, Comparison of Linux distributions 
 |- 
 | Microsoft Windows || Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows CE 
 |- 
 | [[