Different Environments

**The Role of Computer Systems in Different Environments**

**Microcomputers (Personal Computers)**

**Home**

Personal computers are in pretty much every household
nowadays and they are used for many things, for example.

·
Games are a part of computers whether they come
as games that are already installed like pinball and minesweeper or if it’s a
game that is played off of a disk or a USB or even a game that is played
through a browser.

·
People do use computer more and more now to work
from home and a computer is a huge part of home business as you need to for if
you need to send or receive any details.

·
Computers are very useful in the range of
education since there a sites on the internet and there are programs that
provide education tools

·
Computers are used for shopping a lot due to
sites like Amazon and Ebay and with online backing and improved security means
it is a lot easier and safer to buy things online.

·
Social networking has always been a big thing
for computer since sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

**Business**

Personal computers are used a lot in business with similar
uses to home computers but are sometimes a bit more advanced, for example

·
Emails would be used a lot more since emails
will need to be sent between members of staff or customers.

·
Business will also be using online shopping so
they can purchase things like business supplies.

·
Whereas business used to have large physical
storage units to keep documents and such safe they now use the computer’s hard
drives or cloud storage to keep a digital version taking up less space.

**Computing Gaming**

 Computers are used for more than just work, web browsing and
emailing. They are also used for gaming.

·
Different types of games can be played, where it
be buying a physical copy from a shop, you buy a digital version or you can
play the game online through a web browser.

·
You can buy or build a computer with the sole
purpose for gaming.

·
Unlike console gaming PC has the ability to
allow players to use modifications to improve their experience.

**Networking**

Networking is just the way of sharing things over the web
from one person to another, you can do many things on a network, for example.

·
You can share files over a network to other
users.

·
Things like printers, scanners, drives can be
attached to a network and can be used by anyone who is on the network

·
Games can be played on a network which allows
more people to play.

·
On a network tasks can be performed but on a
much larger scale, this can mean they can use more data for the task or more
people can contribute to it.

**Real-Time**

 Real time is the term used when something is happening at
that moment like when watching a video and it plays with no pauses or delays.
If there were any pauses of delays then it would not be considered as real time
because of the fact that it takes a second or so for a response or a task to be
performed.

·
Typing on keyboard and having the input appear
straight away without any delay would be considered as real time.

**Communication**

Computers can be sued for many different types of
communication like

·
Emailing

·
Faxing

·
Social media

·
Video calling

**Microcomputers (Mobile computers)**

**Home**

 Mobile computers are devices that are not restricted in
movement like a desktop. Mobile computers main selling point is that they are
portable, these mobile computers include these

·
Netbooks

·
Tablet computers

·
Smart phones

·
PDA’s

**Business**

Business may sometimes require work to be moved around so
instead of using a desktop and using either emails or external drives to
transport businesses will also use Mobile computers.

·
A range of laptops and netbooks will be sued to
make moving data around easy

·
Employees will most likely have their own Mobile
computers

·
Business will have their own hotspots or Wi-Fi
access which will allow staff to send and receive data easily.

**Gaming**

 Gaming isn’t restricted to powerful gaming PC’s, games can
be played from devices like your mobile phone, tablet device, mobile computer
and handheld gaming device. You can do many things with these like

·
Any device the as an internet connection has the
ability to get access to thousands of games that can be download and played at
any time.

·
Tablets are good for gaming as well, having a
larger screen and more power than a smartphone it can make gaming more fun and
at a fraction of the cost of a gaming computer

**Networking**

 Networking paired with a mobile computer makes being on the
move with work an ease. Having a connection to a network will allow you to go
anywhere but still be able to complete tasks like

·
Send emails to other people and share files

·
All the devices like drives, printers and
scanners that are used by Personal Computers can also be used by the mobile computers

**Real time**

Real time on mobile computers may be a little harder as they
do not have the power of a personal computer so they may not be able to display
a live feed in time with the broadcast or be able to have as quick response
time

**Communication**

 Communication is even easier with mobile since they can be
moved and not be stuck down to once play. You can use a calling feature like
facetime or Skype whilst you walk around as long as you have an internet
connection.

**Minicomputers (Mid-Range servers)**

**Home**

A Mid-Ranged Servers is not really going to be used unless
you are running a larger home business, running a large website which has a lot
of traffic or need a have a lot of data in an online store for people to
access.

**Business**

 A business is more likely to use a mid-range server as they
may need its power for things like keeping documentation, making sure they company’s
websites, systems and networks are running properly, places to use a Mid-range
server could be,

·
A college or university as they would need to
keep documentation, keep details on students and staff members, make sure the
computers systems stay operational, to make sure that the network stays running
or to make sure that the college or university’s website stays online.

·
Hospitals may need them as they would need to
keep constant documentation on all the stock, medication and supplies, staff members
and the patients.

·
Banks will need these to keep the banks systems
updated with information about people bank accounts, new and existing account
holders and the flow of money.

**Computer gaming**

 Someone who is into computer gaming may not needs this but
somewhere that was a host probably would. For example anywhere that had several
gaming rigs running at any given time or somewhere hosting an online game would
need this in order to have enough power for everyone connected.

·
These would be needed to create lobbies for
players.

·
The server and connections will be needed to
actually allow players to play together.

**Networking**

Depending on the size of the network a Mid-Range server may
be needed, for example if it was a large network with around 100 machines then
one will be needed in order to allow all the machines onto the network.

·
A Mid-Range Server would be needed to handle all
the computers at one time, especially once all the machines started trying to
upload and download data from it.

·
A larger Mid-Range Server would also allow for
more programs or programs that need more data supplied to it to be ran at one
time.

**Real-Time**

Since real-time is something that happened straight away a
Mid-Range Server would help make sure things would be running at real-time and
being delayed less.

**Communication**

 A Mid-Range Server would help with communication as it could
more machines meaning data can be sent between each other with ease.

**Minicomputers (Workstations)**

**Home**

Workstations are normally machines that are more powerful
than personal computers and are connected to a network. These workstations will
often include

·
One monitor

·
There may be blank Hard Drives or CD’s for to
movement of data.

·
Basic peripherals like a mouse and a keyboard

·
An all in one printer

·
A machine that will be connected to the internet
and have network access.

**Business**

A business will have workstations and they will be somewhat
better than workstations at home.

·
They will have at least one monitor

·
The desk may have some organisation to it like
have files or cabinets to keep things separate

·
The PC might be upgraded to meet the
requirements of the business.

·
These computers will probably share a networked
printer that will be used by a range of computers and will be in a central
location and will be a lot with the ability to performance more tasks than an
ordinary printer.

**Computer Gaming**

 Gamers will have a more optimized workstation that will
often include

·
Most of the time gaming workstations will at
least one monitor but often have about two or three.

·
There will most likely be special gaming peripherals
like a mouse, keyboard and mousepad

·
The computer itself will be a lot higher spec
than others with higher amounts of RAM, a more powerful CPU with more cores, a
SSD, a powerful GPU and a higher quality cooling systems like multiple fans or water-cooling.

**Networking**

For gaming the network may be bigger to allow more data to
be sent and received making game play smoother, it would also make loading times
a lot quicker as more data would be loaded at one time.

**Real time**

 Workstations are most commonly designed for a certain task
but they are able to carry out a range of tasks. Workstations are used with
real time for a range of situations like.

·
Weather stations

·
Time zones

·
Animation

·
Simulations

**Communication.**

 Workstations are used
for communication but they are not used as much nowadays for a few reasons.

·
If a workstation is hacked or is being used by
someone who is not meant to be then it means data can be stolen.

·
Networks now are a lot quicker and faster than
what they used to be so it is a lot easier to communicate over the internet
now.

**Large Scale Network Systems**

These machines are most often
found in large businesses like Universities, banks and higher
establishments.  This also refers to
systems that are able to run different hardware, are able to hold a large
amount of data and is able to hold a lot of users on a network. These mainframes
will not be needed for a household or most likely not a business unless you
have a large amount of employees, a large amount of terminals or a lot of data
that needs storing.

**Supercomputers**

 A supercomputer is a name given to a computer
(s) that are known for being the fastest and most powerful created. Used by
large organisations like NASA they are capable of almost all tasks. These are used
for running high tech simulations like how the weather would act or show how aerodynamic
how vehicles are and how to design boats in order to make the best water displacement
when sailing.

Like Large Scale Network Systems
you would never find one of these in someone’s home or in a small business. These
supercomputers come with thousands of CPU cores and a staggeringly high amount
of RAM but take up a huge amount of space to hold all of this processing power.

The top 10 supercomputers in the
world are often in this list

Tianhe-2 - China

Titan- USA

Sequioia – USA

K Computer – Japan

Mira –USA

Piz Daint – Switzalnd

Shaheen II – Saudi Arabia

Stampede – USA

JUQUEEN – Germany

Vulcan – USA

**Multiprocessing**

 Multiprocessing is another way of saying multitasking. Whereas
a normal computer will have a single CPU a machine that is used for Multiprocessing
will have 2 or more that can either work on the something to complete tasks
quicker and cause less stress on a machine or can work on separate tasks
meaning that more are being completed but means there is more stress on the machine.

Multiprocessing is used in supercomputing due to the large
amount of CPU’s which allow the machine to complete and run thousands of tasks
at a single moment because tasks can be given out in a balanced load so
everything is working at the same level or all the machines power can be used
to work on one task, for example it took the K Computer 40 minutes with full
power being dedicated just to recreate 1 second of human brain activity.