Any tips for job interview as PC tech level 1?

I have a job interview next week at a hospital for a computer aide
level 1 pos. I would guess they are on an AS400 server. I'm A+ with
experience fixing pcs/laptops and printers, and have some experience
with AS400, mostly working on equipment hooked up to it, but never
dealing with support issues that arise from the AS400.

They are looking for someone with 6 months mainframe or mini computer
experience... Minicomputer is a pc, I guess? I wish I had some verbiage
regarding AS 400 errors, or???

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< Minicomputer is a pc > no! these are pretty much "obsolete" terms..
but what does an HR dept know! in the same lingo.. a pc is
a "microcomputer&quot;.. but now-a-days the difference is pretty foggy.

here's a run-down:

mainframe: in the old days..these could take up an entire room...
typically, down to a single rack (about the size of a standard
refrigerator. The old classic IBM big-box machines like
the "system/360";. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_mainframes
These run on a clunky operating system like IBM's "OS&quot; or "DOS&quot; (not to
be confused with the PC flavor!). The "MVS&quot; operating systems is one
of the popular later varieties. (generally, pretty boring stuff.)

minicomputer: in the old days.. these usually were as large as
a 'frig.. but hard to distinguish from your typical pc. (I have yet to
see a "mini" in a notebook form.. but no reason to think that it can't
happen. The Digital Equipment Corp. (bought by Compaq, which was
bought by HP.) PDP series is classic (and the VAX series is well
known) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minicomputer
Although "DEC&quot; (short for Digital Eq.) developed the "VMS&quot; operating
system that developed into something that was pretty powerful.. The
famous "UNIX" operating system was developed on DEC gear. A lot of
companies have made "mini" computers.. HP still does (HP9000 series).
Many of these companies have disappeared.. but HP, Sun Microsystems,
IBM and others still build machines in this area. .. and of course,
AS400 is from IBM.

OK, so physical size doesn't help us much anymore. The operation
system gives us a clue. "mainframe" and "mini" computers have one
other thing in common.. they are designed to run many processes (i.e.
different programs) at the same time.. and run with many users (or at
least more than one user). They also, may have more than one cpu. (of
course, we're seeing pc's with "dual core" and multiple cpus as well..
more reasons the definitions are getting blurry!)

When you think of a PC.. you pretty much think "DOS&quot; or "Windows".. but
there's a lot Linux showing up. Although Linux was developed on a PC
to bring "unix to the small box".. we're also seeing a lot of the
bigger boxes going toward Linux as well.

You probably need to know a bit about networking as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_ring
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_area_network
(make wikipedia your friend!)

Good Luck!

// Brian

--- In Computer_Help_and_Discussion%40yahoogroups.com">Computer_Help_and_Discussionyahoogroups.com, "joe979xx"
<joe979xx...> wrote:
&gt;
> I have a job interview next week at a hospital for a computer aide
> level 1 pos. I would guess they are on an AS400 server. I'm A+ with
> experience fixing pcs/laptops and printers, and have some experience
> with AS400, mostly working on equipment hooked up to it, but never
> dealing with support issues that arise from the AS400.
&gt;
> They are looking for someone with 6 months mainframe or mini computer
> experience... Minicomputer is a pc, I guess? I wish I had some
verbiage
> regarding AS 400 errors, or???
&gt;

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