PCC had traditionally operated in the mid-range segment, providing boards to New England based minicomputer companies.

Mr. Stahlman foresees significant disappointments for investors in minicomputer companies, which he expects to be the biggest victims of the shift to network computing.

Analysts said the offer could represent a breakthrough in the protracted fight between the two minicomputer companies, if Prime agreed to be divided.

MAI, a minicomputer company based in Tustin, Calif., said it expects to report a nonrecurring charge of $13 million to $15 million.

And Sun's most powerful machines, based on its own Sparc microprocessor, are moving the company even farther into the domain controlled by minicomputer companies.

Hewlett-Packard has made that transition faster and better than other minicomputer companies.

Consider the example of Wang Laboratories, the minicomputer company that in 1976 introduced the first stand-alone word processor.

Wang Laboratories Inc., a minicomputer company, reported a decline in earnings, which it attributed to the cost of new product introductions.

Lincs sold for about $43,000 - a bargain at the time - and were ultimately made commercially by Digital Equipment, the first minicomputer company.

"This section of the forest has some dying trees," Turmoil along Route 128 goes beyond the big minicomputer companies.