Computers, Operating Systems and the Internet

Abstract

The computer is the most important tool for a scientist in bioinformatics. Until a few years ago large mainframe computerswere necessary for the calculations and database searches required in bioinformatics. Because of the ever increasing efficiency of modern personal computers (PC) this is no longer the case and most tasks can be accomplished with today’s PC. Largecomputer systems are only required when very large sets of calculations have to be carried out or where large amounts of dataare handled. In these cases, rather than large mainframe or special-purpose computers, clusters of networked computers aresuffi cient and are based on the same technology as a normal PC (Fig. 1.1). While in the offi ce and home environment thetwo operating systems Windows and MacOS are mainly used, UNIX is generally required for bioinformatics. However, Microsoft’soperating system Windows gains increased importance in this area, e.g. through Microsoft’s digital pharma initiative [microsoftlifesciences].