The document outlines the key characteristics of five generations of computers from 1951 to the present. The first generation used vacuum tubes and magnetic drums for storage and had a memory capacity of 4,000 bits. The second generation introduced transistors and magnetic cores. The third generation saw the rise of silicon chips and integrated circuits. The fourth generation was based on large-scale integrated circuits and had memory capacities of 100 million bits. The fifth generation uses very large-scale integrated circuits and has unlimited storage capacity.

1. Computer Generations

2. Key for Computer Generations
• Time Frame
• Circuit Components
• Elements per Component
• Internal Storage
• Memory Capacity
• Data Input
• Popular Computers and Companies at that time

3. First Generations 1951- 1958
• Vacuum Tubes
• Magnetic Drum
• 4,000 bits
• Hard Wire Programs in computers
• IBM 650, Univac I
• ENIAC

4. Second Generation 1959-1964
• Transistors
• Magnetic Cores
• 32,000 bits
• Punch Cards
• CDC, GE, IBM

5. Third Generation 1965-1974
• Silicon Chips (Integrated circuits)= IC
• Cores, IC’s
• 128,000 bits
• Keyboard Entry
• IBM, NCR, Honeywell

6. Fourth Generation 1975-1989
• Silicon Chips (Large scale integrated
circuits)=LSI
• IC’s, LSI’s
• 100 million bits
• Read programs off disks
• Apple, Xerox, Texas Instrument, Hewlett-
Packard

7. Fifth Generation 1990-present
• Silicon Chips ( Very Large Integrated Circuits)
VLSI
• LSI’s, VLSI’s
• Unlimited
• CdRom, Optical Disk
• NEC, Packard Bell, Compaq, Other Clones

8. Information is Power