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Reference.org
Transistor computer
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<p>A transistor computer, now often called a second-generation computer, is a <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computer</a> which uses discrete <a href="/facts/Transistor/Bmr8zwL0">transistors</a> instead of <a href="/facts/Vacuum_tube/VHd1BNLq">vacuum tubes</a>. The first generation of electronic computers used vacuum tubes, which generated large amounts of heat, were bulky and unreliable. A second-generation computer, through the late 1950s and 1960s featured <a href="/facts/Circuit_board/muSR2p43">circuit boards</a> filled with individual transistors and <a href="/facts/Magnetic-core_memory/4TFIXSNd">magnetic-core memory</a>. These machines remained the mainstream design into the late 1960s, when <a href="/facts/Integrated_circuits/fjn6vg7C">integrated circuits</a> started appearing and led to the <a href="/facts/Third-generation_computer/Eq0nC7aD">third-generation computer</a>. </p>