mind mouse
<hardware>
A pointing device (unlike a mouse in design, but serving the same purpose) which works via sensors in contact with the user's skin. The sensors are built into a plastic base which fits on one finger and which is similar in shape to a finger cast.
The principle of operation is presumably myoelectric, not psionic, contrary to what the name implies. As of the time of writing (1996), mind mice are not accurate enough to be anything but novelties. [Availability?]Last updated: 1997-04-07
mind uploading
The science fiction concept of copying one's mind into an artificial body or computer.
Home.Last updated: 1995-04-10
Minerva software
A company producing software for the Acorn Archimedes. http://zynet.co.uk/minerva/.Last updated: 1995-01-31
Minesweeper, Chess, Solitaire Expert
<humour>
(MCSE) A humourous expansion of MCSE suggesting a more realistic summary of a person's computer expertise.
Last updated: 2013-03-16
minicomputer
<computer>
A computer built between about 1963 and 1987, smaller and less powerful than a mainframe, typically about the size and shape of a wardrobe, mounted in a single tall rack.
Minicomputers were characterised by short word lengths of 8 to 32 bits, limited hardware and software facilities and small physical size. Their low cost made them suitable for a wide variety of applications such as industrial control, where a small, dedicated computer which is permanently assigned to one application, is needed. In recent years, improvements in device technology have resulted in minicomputers which are comparable in performance to large second generation computers and greatly exceed the performance of first generation computers. The processor was typically built using low integration logic integrated circuits - TTL or maybe ECL, thus distinguishing it from a microcomputer which is built around a microprocessor - a processor on a single (or maybe a few) ICs. DEC's PDP-1 was the first minicomputer and their PDP-11 was the most successful, closely followed (in both time and success) by the VAX (which DEC called a "super minicomputer"). Another early minicomputer was the LINC developed at MIT in 1963. Other minicomputers were the AS/400, the PRIME series, the AP-3, Olivetti's Audit 7 and the Interdata 8/32. [Others?]Last updated: 2004-05-12
Mini Disc
A music medium designed by Sony as a portable replacement for music Compact Discs. In 1994 Sony announced a data version which can hold 140 MB or about 100 MB using error correction. These will be competitive with 128 MB magneto-optical disks. Mini Discs may be either a re-writable or mass-produced read-only type. Sony have also announced a standard data format.
The transfer rate is similar to CD-ROM which is slow compared to the current magneto-optical drives (which are similar to an old hard disk, with writing noticeably slower than reading). Pre-recorded read-only Mini Discs can be mass manufactured on a modified CD press - this and the standard format mean it could take off as a software distribution medium. An article in the December 1994 PCW quotes access times of about 300 ms and data transfer rate of about 150 kb/s (i.e. about single spin CD rate).Last updated: 1994-12-13
minifloppy
<storage>
5.25-inch vanilla floppy disks, as opposed to 3.5-inch or microfloppies and the now-obsolescent 8-inch variety.
At one time, this term was a trademark of Shugart Associates for their SA-400 minifloppy drive. Nobody paid any attention. See stiffy.Last updated: 1996-05-03
minimal automaton
<theory>
An automaton possessing with redundant states.
Last updated: 1996-05-03
minimax
<games>
An algorithm for choosing the next move in a two player game. A player moves so as to maximise the minimum value of his opponent's possible following moves. If it is my turn to move, I give a value to each legal move I might make. If the result of a move is an immediate win for me I give it positive infinity and, if it is an immediate win for you, negative infinity. The value to me of any other move is the minimum of the values resulting from each of your possible replies.
The above algorithm will give every move a value of positive or negative infinity since the value of every move will be the value of some final winning or losing move. This can be extended if we can supply a heuristic evaluation function which gives values to non-final game states without considering all possible following complete sequences. We can then limit the minimax algorithm to look only a certain number of moves ahead. This number is called the "look-ahead" or "ply". See also alpha/beta pruning. [Is "maximin" used? Is it significantly different?]Last updated: 2000-12-07
Mini-ML
["A Simple Applicative Language: Mini-ML", D. Clement et al, Proc 1986 ACM Conf on LISP and Functional Prog, (Aug 1986)].minimum seek time
<storage>
(Or track-to-track seek time) The time it takes to move the head of a disk drive from one track to the next. The minimum seek time gives a good measure of the speed of the drive in a single-user/single-process environment where successive read/write request are largely correlated and thus if correlated data is stored in nearby cylinders most seeks are from one cylinder to the next.
Last updated: 1997-07-15
Mini PL/I
A commercial PL/I subset for the Olivetti Audit 7 minicomputer.Ministra
<company>
(Previosly "Stalker") The set-top box software company that created the stalker_portal.
Last updated: 2023-04-01
MINITAB II
A system for interactive solution of small statistical problems. ["MINITAB Student Handbook", T.A. Ryan et al, Duxbury Press 1976].Last updated: 1994-10-31
MINIX
/MIN-ix/ A small operating system that is very similar to UNIX. MINIX was written for educational purposes by Prof. Andrew S. Tanenbaum of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
MINIX has been written from scratch and contains no AT&T code -- neither in the kernel, the compiler, the utilities, nor the libraries. Although copyrighted by Prentice-Hall, all sources, binaries and documentation can be obtained via Internet for educational or research purposes. Current versions as of 1996-11-15: MINIX 2.0 - Intel CPUs from Intel 8088 to Pentium MINIX 1.5 - Intel, Macintosh (MacMinix), Amiga, Atari ST, Sun SPARC. http://cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html.Last updated: 1997-06-16
Minnesota Internet Users Essential Tool
<networking, tool>
(Minuet) An integrated package for IBM PC that includes modules for electronic mail (using the POP protocol), Gopher, telnet, Usenet news and FTP. Minuet provides an easy-to-use, mouse-driven graphical user interface via the TurboVision libraries. It is a TCP/IP client that runs over any type of TCP/IP network including Ethernet and SLIP. It will work with either static IP addresses or dynamic IP addresses (bootp).
FAQ. ftp://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/minuet/beta16/minuarc.exe.Last updated: 1995-04-10
MINT
Mint Is Not TRACMiNT
(MinT is not TOS - a recursive acronym) A freeware, open source operating system for the Atari ST range of computers. MiNT was originally based on a port of BSD to Atari ST computers by Eric R. Smith. MiNT gave the Atari access to BSD's many network applications. A short (1992-94) romance between MiNT and Atari Corp., who decided to convert the system to the MultiTOS kernel, produced a unique TOS/Unix hybrid, which provides simultaneous access to both GEM and BSD application libraries.
Since MiNT is MultiTOS's kernel, it has kept all the features described above and, if an AES replacement is installed, it can show you a new face of MultiTOS. Unlike MultiTOS however, MiNT is based on a different file system, that is faster and more flexible than TOS's. Furthermore, thanks to the network support, MiNT allows an Atari to be an Internet server that can still run GEM and TOS applications! This has won MiNT many devotees ("MiNTquisitors"), making it the main competitor for ASH's MagiC. Unlike Linux, MiNT can run on a Motorola 68000 with no FPU. It needs at least 4 MB of RAM, more to run multiuser or to run GEM applications at the same time. http://orient.uw.edu.pl/~conradus/docs/mint.html.Last updated: 1999-07-20
Mint Is Not TRAC
(MINT) A version of TRAC used as the extension language in the Freemacs editor.
ftp://sun.soe.clarkson.edu/pub/freemacs.Last updated: 1994-10-31
Minuet
Minnesota Internet Users Essential Tool.
MINUIT
A program for function minimisation and error analysis.Last updated: 1994-10-31
minus
- Common: dash; ITU-T: hyphen; ITU-T: minus. Rare: INTERCAL: worm; option; dak; bithorpe.minus infinity
The most negative value, not necessarily or even usually the simple negation of plus infinity. In N bit twos-complement arithmetic, infinity is 2^(N-1) - 1 but minus infinity is -(2^(N-1)), not -(2^(N-1) - 1).Nearby terms:
MIMIC ♦ MIMOLA ♦ mind mouse ♦ mind uploading ♦ Minerva software ♦ Minesweeper, Chess, Solitaire Expert
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