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Soviet computers. Made in USSR. history of the development of domestic computer engineering. About memory, sound and peripherals

In the USSR, copying Western computers was the norm. This happened not only with IT - remember at least cars, toys, household appliances. Whether this is good or bad is not for us to judge. It is much more interesting to study the undercurrents that led to the emergence of diverse and exotic Soviet PCs. And of course, indulge in nostalgia.

There are different ways to explain why the Soviet Union lagged behind the United States in the field of computer engineering. It is traditionally said that in the fifties cybernetics was considered a product of "imperialist propaganda" and the discipline was declared a pseudoscience. Be that as it may, the country's leadership did not immediately accept computers, and red tape in the approval of developments and the adoption of standards only helped to lag behind. The situation was somewhat saved by the fact that in the USSR they were not shy about borrowing Western technologies, and when the need arose and the opportunity arose to clone a foreign computer, this was done without much regard for licenses. Many are familiar with the series of Soviet supercomputers ES EVM, which borrowed a lot from the IBM / 360 system. Even the BESM-6, which was considered an original development, was inspired by the American CDC 1604. But only engineers of large enterprises saw these computers. Soviet people really encountered computerization in the eighties, and that's when the clones literally fell down. Their diversity was great, and you can study it for a very long time. We will focus on the most famous series of Soviet computers that could be found in scientific institutes and, later, at home.

SM computer
(SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM)

It is widely known that before computers were tamed and domesticated, they were wild and lived in the wilds of computer centers. The ancestors of modern machines are usually divided into generations: the first was built on lamps, the second appeared with the transition to transistors, and the third was the result of the invention of microcircuits. Computers of the third generation have ceased to occupy entire rooms and began to fit into cabinets comparable in size to modern server racks. The fact that they were called "mini-computers" now cannot but cause a smile, but for its time, even such miniaturization was a breakthrough. In the United States, the first commercially successful minicomputer was DEC's PDP-8, which had been in production since 1965. In the USSR, the need for cheaper and smaller systems than the giant BESM and ES computers was realized only by the mid-seventies. PDP-8 had become obsolete by that time, and its successor, PDP-11, was taken as the basis for the future series of small electronic computers (SM computers).
For fifteen years, at the Institute of Electronic Control Machines (INEUM), where the development of SM computers was carried out, they managed to master other architectures: when the VAX brand computers replaced the PDP-11, their Soviet counterparts SM-1700 appeared. Later, with the advent of microprocessors, the CM range was replenished with microcomputers - machines based on microprocessors, including eight- and sixteen-bit Intel chips (CM-1800 and CM-1810). But the most common model was still the SM-4, which had a command system and a data transfer bus very close to the PDP-11. CMs were mainly used in manufacturing and in the energy sector - there they replaced specialized controllers: unlike the controller, the computer can be reprogrammed at any time, which gives much more flexibility. Subsequently, it turned out that mini-computers are needed in scientific laboratories and in many other places. But the most interesting thing is how the popularity of SM computers influenced the emerging Soviet industry of microcomputers at that time - including home ones.

DVK
(DIALOGUE COMPUTING COMPLEX)

When the need for general-purpose desktop computers became apparent, the Research Institute of Precision Technologies (NIITT) was instructed to start developing such machines based on the sixteen-bit K1801VM1 microprocessor. Initially, it was planned to use its own architecture "Electronics NTs", but in order to maintain continuity with respect to the SM computer, a chip was chosen that had a command system similar to it. That's just a typical SM computer looked like a decent-sized cabinet, and the "Dialogue Computing Complex 1" was more like a regular PC. The clock frequency of the DVK-1 processor was 5 MHz, there were 48 KB of RAM, two drives for 5.25-inch floppy disks and an alphanumeric terminal. The latter means just a black and green monitor that can display nothing but characters - that is, no graphics. Initially, there was no support for hard drives, but in those days they knew how to do without them: it was necessary to insert a floppy disk with the system into one drive, load it, and then into the second - a floppy disk with programs, and only then get to work. Unless, of course, one of the floppy disks suddenly fails.
Most often, DVK met at universities and research institutes, but this does not mean at all that these computers were not used for entertainment purposes - how they were used! Compatibility with the PDP-11 even made it possible to run Western software that reached us. One of the most famous and exciting games was Star Trek - tactical star fights in a square of eight by eight characters. DVK improved throughout the eighties: the design of motherboards (or "single-board computers", as they were then called) changed, the amount of memory grew, hard disk controllers and color graphic displays appeared. The last popular DVK, number four, had a whole megabyte of RAM, a 20 MB disk, and a color screen.

In 1985, the Soviet Union decided to seriously take up the computerization of schools. By that time, the variety of home computers was already a dime a dozen, and the competition for the right to computerize the classroom was even fiercer than the recent struggle of school Linux distributions. The developers of "Micro-80" also did not miss the opportunity to participate in the competition: RK86 was urgently adapted for serial production and use in schools. The name was made up of two words - “microcomputer” and “school”, and then they decided to stylize it to “Mikroshi”. The computer had to be as cheap and simple as possible - that is, single-board. For the sake of simplification, some features had to be abandoned, and compatibility with Radio-86RK turned out to be incomplete. Moreover, there were almost no programs - only a couple of simple games were written for demonstration. Nevertheless, they decided to launch Mikrosh into a series, and in 1987 the computer went on sale and began to enter schools.
Those who happened to use "Mikrosh" remember this with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there is no luxury: an uncomfortable keyboard, on which the wrong keys are pressed every now and then, and a poor pseudo-graphic mode, with which you can’t really do anything interesting. On the other hand - all the same tears of tenderness and nostalgia.

"Radio-86RK" (or, as it was called by the people, RK86) was the successor of the ideas of "Micro-80" and was distributed in the same way - through a magazine, and not through factory lines. Compared to its predecessor, it was much easier to assemble: instead of 200 chips, only 29 were used. Everything else was very similar - the same processor, even less RAM (16 or 32 KB) and 2 KB of ROM. You still had to get parts, solder, make a case and interrupt ROM dumps from the magazine on your own. And of course, it was necessary to have a tape recorder and beat off the TV from family members who wanted to watch TV shows on it.

BC
(HOUSEHOLD COMPUTER)

How many BK-0010 users know that they had a chance to work with the "great-grandson" DEC PDP-11? The sixteen-bit microprocessor K1801VM1 in the mid-eighties was still mass-produced in the USSR and enjoyed considerable popularity. Just as the DVK became the successor to the SM computer, the BK (household computer) owes its design to the DVK.
If "Mikrosha" was created spontaneously and reached the mass consumer only thanks to a series of happy accidents, then with BC everything is much simpler: its development was ordered by Zelenograd NIITT (at that time already working on DVK), and in 1985 the plant in Pavlovsky Posad began to produce BK. According to the characteristics of the BK-0010, it was not much different from other home computers of its era: 3 MHz, 32 Kb of RAM, the same amount of ROM and, of course, the need for a tape recorder and a TV. But the devil, as you know, is in the details, and BK-0010 did not complain about the lack of devilish features. Here is the keyboard controller, which did not support rollover, and the eye-catching color video mode with four colors, which did not include white (but included green, red, blue and black), and the exotic FOCAL language, borrowed from the PDP-8 and different from BASIC mainly by the fact that the commands in it could be denoted by one first letter. All this did not prevent the BC from becoming one of the most popular home computers in the USSR. It was produced until 1992, and more than 160 thousand BK-0010/0011 were produced for all the time.

In 1981, no one could have guessed which of the computer platforms would win, and few even thought about it. Diversity and incompatibility were completely normal, and no one was surprised that programs for computers of one model did not run on a computer of another. If they don’t start, then you need to rewrite - such is life.
Perhaps that is why the Research Institute of Computing Systems (NIIVK) did not attach much importance to the fact that the future Apple II + based school computer created there would not be compatible with other Soviet machines, or with its American original, or even with its Bulgarian counterpart. "Pravets 82". Having borrowed a common Apple II+ device and even found an opportunity to purchase the original MCS6502 processors, NIIVK decided to implement memory management in a different way and completely redesigned the graphics system. As a result, the main advantage of cloning was lost - compatibility.
Agat-4, which went into mass production in 1983, was an eight-bit machine with 64 KB of RAM, a 5.25-inch floppy disk drive (140 or 840 KB) and a bright red casing. It was produced at the Lianozovo Electromechanical Plant and distributed to educational institutions. In addition to computers, classes received a set of software "Schoolgirl", which included interpreters for BASIC and RAPIRA - a fancy language with Russian syntax.
At the very least, they wrote their own software for the Agates, including a text editor, a DBMS, a clone of VisiCalc spreadsheets and, of course, games - where would a computer science lesson be without them! The Agat-7 modification was already more compatible with the Apple II, but a different video adapter was needed to run local applications - it was produced separately, was popularly nicknamed "cell 121" (by the index in the name of the board) and was an absolute must-have for any owner "Agatha".

“Guys, stop doing nonsense. There can be no personal computer. There may be a personal car, a personal pension, a personal dacha. Do you even know what a computer is? A computer is 100 square meters of space, 25 service personnel and 30 liters of alcohol every month!” - With this anecdotal speech, the Deputy Minister of the USSR Radio Industry met the developers of Micro-80, one of the first Soviet home computers.
They say that specialists from the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics became the developers of a series of popular home computers by pure chance. Miraculously, a package arrived at MIEM from NPO Kristall, destined for another institution - INEUM, where, as we know, SM computers were developed. The recipients did not raise their hands to send the K580IK80 chips (Intel i8080 clones) that were in the box, but they had enough skills to develop a new computer based on these chips.
The invention, however, did not turn into a serial product - instead, the Micro-80 team of creators published articles in the Radio magazine, which told how to create your own computer from scratch, there were also circuit boards and ROM dumps in hexadecimal form. Far from everyone was able to recreate the Micro-80 according to the drawings - for this it was necessary to get more than 200 microcircuits and assemble several modules from them.
Anyone who went through this thorny path from beginning to end turned out to be the owner of an eight-bit computer with 64 KB of RAM, which used a regular TV as a monitor, and instead of a disk drive, you had to use a cassette recorder - a common practice in those days. But the modesty of the characteristics did not matter: the first computer is like the first sex, and the most important thing is that it be, and what kind is the tenth thing.

ZX SPECTRUM

The ZX Spectrum computer, created by the British company Sincalir Research in 1982, occupies a truly special place - both in the history of home PCs popular in the USSR, and in the hearts of its owners. By the way, there were a huge number of the latter, and the number of clones from which one could choose exceeds all reasonable limits: their list includes more than two hundred varieties. Where did such popularity suddenly come from? Other foreign computers penetrated the USSR with difficulty, and even if they were cloned, they changed so much in the process that there was usually no question of software compatibility. Specky clones (this is the English nickname for the ZX Spectrum) took root and we had good computers for those times and for their money: they had a processor with a clock speed of 3.5 MHz, 48 KB of RAM (in the classic version) and a video mode that supports 15 colors, - however, only two different colors in a square of eight by eight dots. But most importantly, Spectrums were cheap, easy to assemble, and supported all foreign software and games, of which more than one thousand had been written by the beginning of the nineties. The structure of the Zilog Z80 processor, which was installed in the proprietary Spectrums, was not secret, and it could be reproduced if desired - including on an industrial scale. But the device of the ULA chip, which contained a considerable part of the computer, was classified by Sinclair Research and, if possible, protected from copying. It was impossible to find out its contents. Or almost impossible...
In 1984-1985, a team of Soviet electronics engineers from the Design Bureau of the Lviv Polytechnic Institute did a lot of work, which resulted in the complete reverse development of the ULA and the repetition of the ZX Spectrum on Soviet components. It was a real victory for skillful hands and hacker thought! The "Lviv version" of the ZX Spectrum quickly spread and gave rise to other clones. They were often named after the city where the authors lived: for example, popular followers of the "Lvov version" were "Moscow-48" and "Leningrad-48".
In 1991, the history of the Soviet Union ended, but the history of the ZX Spectrum continued as if nothing had happened. While the centralized production of Soviet computers like UKNTS or BK stopped, the Spectrums assembled on the knee flourished. A community has formed around them, and it has created things that Western fans of the ZX Spectrum could only marvel at.
Interest in the "Spectrum" did not weaken until about the mid-nineties, and then did not subside completely. The most interesting things happened around this computer: the clones became more and more perfect (supported more memory, disk drives
and the most diverse peripherals), new programs and games were written, and even electronic magazines were published on diskettes. The Russian spektrumists even had their own analogue of the FIDO network - it was called ZXNet. And it was with Spectrum that the Russian demoscene began - since 1996, annual festivals have been held to this day (first it was Moscow's Enlight, and now it's St. Petersburg's Chaos Constructions), where you can meet Spectrumist friends and even see new demos.

ELECTRONICS MS0511, UKNC
(EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER OF THE RESEARCH CENTER)

DVK, BK, "Agaty", "Corvettes", IBM PC and various clones and varieties of these computers were actively purchased for schools in the mid-eighties and became the basis of KUVT - complexes of educational computer technology. But the most popular school computer was Elektronika MS 0511, also called UKNTS (scientific center training computer). It was developed by the same NIITT based on the KM 1801 processor, but unlike the BK-0010 of the VM2 modification, and not the VM1. Nevertheless, the UKNTS was a much more advanced machine than the BC: in addition to the main processor, which operated at a frequency of 8 MHz, there was also a second chip of the same family.
It was called peripheral and had a clock frequency of 6.25 MHz. The processors were connected by a high-speed backbone, and each of them had its own memory block - 64 KB for the central processor, 32 for peripherals, and another 96 KB of video memory. This was enough to display graphics at a resolution of up to 640 by 288 pixels and up to eight colors simultaneously (out of 16 available). The second processor was responsible for working with I / O devices, but the moment to be involved in general calculations.
Considerable ambitions were associated with the development of the UKNC - nominally, it significantly outperformed other variants of school computers in terms of characteristics. There was a lot of hype around the new development: in bravura speeches, the project leaders went so far as to prophesy the future of the UKSC as “the most popular computer until the year 2000”!
The reality turned out to be nowhere near as perfect. An insufficiently thought-out computer architecture did not allow it to achieve its potential performance - it was believed that its power would be enough for 1.5 million operations per second, while in practice it turned out no more than 600 thousand. There are other traces of unfulfilled plans - for example, UKNTS had a slot for cartridges, but in the end only one cartridge was released (it contained "Basic Vilnius" - a BASIC dialect with the ability to compile and an intermediate code). And finally, the reliability of computers was not high: in the computer class equipped with the UKSC, several failed machines were invariably found at once.

According to Hacker magazine

It is no longer a secret that in 1950-70 the USSR was one of the world leaders in the race called "development and production of computer equipment."
The first computers - MESM, M-1, later known BESM-6 with a speed of more than 1 million floating point operations per second, compact computers of the MIR series, and many other achievements of great minds in the "computer" sphere of the Soviet era.

Many people know the history of the creation of PCs by such world foreign giants as Apple, IBM, etc., since information about them has been covered and heard for decades. Historically, there was an opinion that in the USSR, in addition to the fact that there was no "sex", personal computers also appeared 10 years later than in the same America. But this is nothing more than a myth. The first Soviet integrated circuits with several dozen transistors saw the light already in the mid-1960s, and by the mid-1970s microprocessors, complex microcircuits, were being produced, the number of transistors in them was already measured in thousands. In 1974, the first microcomputers based on universal microprocessors were developed. Sectional processors of the K532 and K536 series (which appeared in the same year) made it possible to produce machines with a bit depth of up to 16–32 bits. This is how 16-bit microcomputers appeared. In 1977, an analogue of the Intel 8080 was released - the 8-bit K580IK80 processor. It then became the basis for the creation of a number of PC and microcomputer models. Two years later, the world's first 16-bit single-chip microcomputer, K1801BE1, was developed. Based on the K1801BE1, the K1801VM (single-chip 16-bit microprocessor) was created in 1981, the command system of which was similar to the command system of the PDP-11 minicomputer. From the speech of the Deputy Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR:

The range in size of the first computers was "huge": tons of equipment, entire machine rooms, personnel serving such a miracle of technology. And therefore, the idea that you can use a computer at home seemed simply ridiculous, who could afford to place such a unit within 4 walls of an apartment. And the very concept of a small-sized computer for personal use was unusual at that time. But she was. The end of the 70s was marked by the mass production and release of PCs: Iskra-1256, Iskra-226, Iskra-555, VEF-Micro, Micro-80, Electronics NTs-8010, Electronics BK-0010, Mikrosha, Krista, Apogee BK-01, Partner 01.01, Spektr-001, etc.

In addition, Soviet citizens had an irresistible desire, a blue dream, so to speak, to have a take-away PC, one that could be kept at home. In one of the newspapers, it seems "Trud", in 1987 an article was published about how the head of the automated control system of a cement plant in Primorsky stole (that is, carried out) parts from the plant for assembling computers. He took out not a lot, not a little, but parts worth 6 thousand rubles, at that time you could buy an apartment for that kind of money. Comrade V. Molyarenko had to receive two years of corrective labor for his "hobby".

A vast technological niche, formed due to an acute shortage in personal automated means of communication and information processing - that's what PCs were called to fill.
Some Soviet publications told how to assemble a PC with their own hands, others told how necessary this unit was for Soviet citizens. For example, the magazine “These professional personal computers” described in detail how modern computers are arranged and what not only a bright, but also an exciting future they bring: they help to learn English, make it possible to play backgammon, create knitting patterns, work with documents. In well-known magazines with a million circulations, entire sections devoted to IT topics began to appear, they were usually called "Man and Computer". What can I say, even in the magazine for the public 6-12 years old "Murzilka" an illustration appeared in which a teacher introduces students to a computer.

1986 Illustration magazine "Murzilka"

1986 Illustration in the magazine "Young Technician"Mikrosh (based on Radio-86RK)

In 1986, the Lianozovsky Electromechanical Plant released the RK-compatible Mikrosh model. It was an improved version of the RK86 prototype, the base RAM was increased to 32 KB, and a programmable timer KR580VI53 appeared. Why Mikrosha became one of the most famous models of Soviet PCs, but everything is tritely simple - again marketing, advertising. In 1986, an advertisement about PC Mikrosh was featured on the cover of the Radio magazine, and a year later, in 1987, the computer was on the cover of the monthly popular science magazine "Science and Life" (No. 7).

PC Microsha is a reliable, relatively inexpensive machine. The cost of such a device at that time was 500 rubles.

"Science and Life" No. 7, 1987 The Microsh PC weighed about 3 kg: the system unit was 1.4 kg, the power supply was 1.3 kg, the modulator was 200 grams. Technical data of the simplest computer intended for general sale:
- Bit depth - 8 bits
- The amount of RAM - 32 KB
- Clock frequency - 1.8 MHz
- Power consumption - no more than 20 W

As mentioned about the PC in the journal "Science and Life", Mikrosh may not be the best, not the one you would like to have, but still a real, live computer that opens up many interesting opportunities and basically corresponds to the class of simple computers that has formed on the world market. An ordinary household tape recorder was used as an external memory device, and a black-and-white TV set was used as a display. Included with the computer was a small prefix-blocks (the size of a pack of cigarettes), the so-called modulator, for connecting to a TV. The TV screen contained 24 lines of letters or numbers, 64 characters per line. Mikrosha performed the addition operation in 3 microseconds, and its speed was 200-300 thousand operations per second.

Mikrosha microprocessor - eight-bit KR580IK80A, address bus - 16-wire. The first portion of the software was supplied on an MK-60 tape cassette, on which programs are needed to start working with a PC.

A user who wanted to enter programs written in the BASIC language had to start a session with the computer by reading the interpreter of this language into the RAM of the machine. Such a need was due to the lack of a ROM of the required capacity. Krista is a miracle of technology with a "touchscreen"

Another interesting instance and representative of the class of the simplest PCs was the 8-bit Krista machine. The Krista PC began to be produced at the Murom Plant of Radio Measuring Instruments in 1986. Characteristics of the device: 32 Kbytes of RAM, 2 Kbytes of ROM, sound generator on the VI53 chip. Krista was partially compatible with Radio-86RK, in 1986 it cost 510 rubles.
The Soviet personal computer worked on the Soviet analogue of the Intel 8080 processor and was very similar to the Mikrosha. The display was an ordinary household TV, and for storing, recording and playing programs - a cassette recorder. Krista is the first Soviet personal machine equipped with a light pen. The light pen was essentially a light-sensitive pen, with which you could touch objects on the screen, such a domestic touchscreen. Such a tool made it possible to quickly select objects on the display, and was used to draw on it. It is not worth talking about the usefulness of such a manipulator, because working at a large TV screen, drawing something, was extremely uncomfortable for the eyes. Information from advertising on Krista's PC:

From the memoirs of Christ: “my first computer with him on a cassette was a“ musical sequencer ”as a musical demo there was an Oginsky polonaise, it fell down no worse than a synthesizer, and programs from a microchip were suitable”, “and a program for a light pen - it was a screen filled with dots like this ...... (pseudographics). When the pen was brought up, the dots were replaced by asterisks. It was impossible to save. There were many games. Almost everyone from Radio 86rk and others came up. There was also an assembler interpreter, but I could not comprehend it and it seems impossible at all)) "Apogee is the most advanced analogue of Radio-86RK

Personal electronic computer "Apogee BK-01". The release of this Soviet 8-bit PC started back in 1988, at the BRA plant in the Tula region (was engaged in the production of household radio equipment): 64 Kbytes of RAM, 4 Kbytes of ROM. There was a regular three-channel sound generator on the KR580VI53 chip (for sound output). For storage, recording and playback of programs, in addition to the cassette recorder, loading from an external ROM up to 64 KB was provided, though only reading. Apogee BK01 provided software support for two modes of writing and reading.
Apogee BK-01Ts is a "color" version of the PC. The KR580VG75 chip was used here, which helped to realize a color image: 8 colors for characters on a black background, or 8 background colors with black characters. However, the Apogee PC displayed quite complex and beautiful pictures.

The cost of a computer ranged from 440 to 560 rubles.
PK-01 Lviv

In 1986, a personal 8-bit educational and household computer "Lvov" was developed at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute. The car was produced by the Lvov Production Association. Lenin. The PC was based on the KR580VM80A processor, and the graphics capabilities were improved. RAM was 64 KB, 16 KB was allocated for video memory. There was no sound generator in Lviv, the sound was output programmatically with a full processor load.
Characteristics of the Lvov PC: frequency 2.22 MHz, speed was 200-300 thousand operations per second, RAM - 64 Kbytes (video memory 16 Kbytes), ROM - 16 Kbytes, power consumption was not more than 30 watts.
The tape recorder was an external memory, and a regular TV served as a monitor. The screen could simultaneously display 4 out of 8 colors of the palette. It was possible to connect an NGMD controller and a ROBOTRON printer to the Lvov PC. The cost of such a machine was 750 rubles, the cost was higher due to the presence of color graphics and a relatively large amount of memory. The model was popular, especially in Ukraine, 80 thousand of such devices were produced. Therefore, it is not strange that in terms of the number of released games and programs, this PC takes 3rd or 4th place among Soviet personal computers. Perhaps its popularity was nothing more than another marketing ploy, because this car was actively advertised on TV in the late 80s.

The first Soviet electronic computer was designed and put into operation near the city of Kiev. The name of Sergei Lebedev (1902-1974) is associated with the advent of the first computer in the Union and on the territory of continental Europe. In 1997, the scientific world community recognized him as a pioneer of computing, and in the same year, the International Computer Society issued a medal with the inscription: “S.A. Lebedev - developer and designer of the first computer in the Soviet Union. The founder of the Soviet computer industry. In total, with the direct participation of the academician, 18 electronic computers were created, 15 of which grew into mass production.

Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev - the founder of computer technology in the USSR

In 1944, after being appointed director of the Energy Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, the academician and his family moved to Kiev. Before the creation of a revolutionary development, there are still four long years left. This institute specialized in two areas: electrical and thermal engineering. By a strong-willed decision, the director separates two not quite compatible scientific directions and heads the Institute of Electronics. The laboratory of the Institute moves to the outskirts of Kiev (Feofaniya, a former monastery). It is there that Professor Lebedev's long-standing dream comes true - to create an electronic digital calculating machine.

The first computer of the USSR

In 1948, the model of the first domestic computer was assembled. The device occupied almost the entire space of the room with an area of 60 m 2 . There were so many elements in the structure (especially heating elements) that when the machine was first started, so much heat was released that even part of the roof had to be dismantled. The first model of the Soviet computer was simply called the Small Electronic Computing Machine (MESM). She could perform up to three thousand computational operations per minute, which was sky-high by the standards of that time. In MESM, the principle of an electronic tube system was applied, which has already been tested by Western colleagues (Colossus Mark 1, 1943, ENIAC, 1946).

In total, about 6 thousand different vacuum tubes were used in the MESM, the device required a power of 25 kW. Programming took place by entering data from punched tapes or as a result of typing codes on a plug-in switch. Data output was carried out by means of an electromechanical printer or by photographing.

MESM parameters:

binary with a fixed point before the most significant digit counting system;
17 digits (16 plus one per sign);
RAM capacity: 31 for numbers and 63 for commands;
functional unit capacity: similar to RAM;
three-address command system;
calculations performed: four simple operations (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication), comparison with sign, shift, comparison by absolute value, addition of commands, transfer of control, transfer of numbers from a magnetic drum, etc.;
type of ROM: trigger cells with the option of using a magnetic drum;
data entry system: serial with control through the programming system;
monoblock universal arithmetic device of parallel action on trigger cells.

Despite the maximum possible autonomous operation of the MESM, the identification and elimination of problems still took place manually or through semi-automatic regulation. During the tests, the computer was asked to solve several problems, after which the developers concluded that the machine is capable of performing calculations beyond the control of the human mind. A public demonstration of the capabilities of a small electronic calculating machine took place in 1951. From that moment on, the device is considered to be the first Soviet electronic computer put into operation. Only 12 engineers, 15 technicians and assemblers worked on the creation of MESM under the leadership of Lebedev.

Despite a number of significant limitations, the first computer made in the USSR worked in accordance with the requirements of its time. For this reason, Academician Lebedev's machine was entrusted with carrying out calculations to solve scientific, technical and national economic problems. The experience gained during the development of the machine was used to create the BESM, and the MESM itself was considered as an operating model on which the principles of building a mainframe computer were worked out. Academician Lebedev's first "pancake" on the way to the development of programming and the development of a wide range of issues in computational mathematics did not turn out to be lumpy. The machine was used both for current tasks and was considered a prototype of more advanced devices.

Lebedev's success was highly appreciated in the highest echelons of power, and in 1952 the academician was appointed to the leading position of the institute in Moscow. A small electronic calculating machine, produced in a single copy, was used until 1957, after which the device was dismantled, disassembled into components and placed in the laboratories of the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, where parts of the MESM served students in laboratory research.

Computer series "M"

While Academician Lebedev was working on an electronic computing device in Kiev, a separate group of electrical engineers was being formed in Moscow. Employees of the Krzhizhanovsky Energy Institute Isaac Brook (electrical engineer) and Bashir Rameev (inventor) in 1948 file an application for registration of their own computer project with the patent office. In the early 50s, Rameev became the head of a separate laboratory, where this device was intended to appear. Literally in one year, the developers assemble the first prototype of the M-1 machine. In all technical parameters, it was a device much inferior to MESM: only 20 operations per second, while Lebedev's machine showed a result of 50 operations. An integral advantage of the M-1 was its size and power consumption. Only 730 electric lamps were used in the design, they required 8 kW, and the entire apparatus occupied only 5 m 2.

In 1952, the M-2 appeared, the productivity of which increased a hundred times, and the number of lamps only doubled. This was achieved through the use of control semiconductor diodes. But innovations required more energy (M-2 consumed 29 kW), and the construction took up four times more space than its predecessor (22 m 2). The counting capabilities of this device were quite enough to implement a number of computational operations, but mass production did not begin.

"Baby" computer M-2

Model M-3 again became a "baby": 774 electron tubes, consuming energy in the amount of 10 kW, area - 3 m 2. Accordingly, the computational capabilities have also decreased: 30 operations per second. But this was quite enough to solve many applied problems, so the M-3 was produced in a small batch, 16 pieces.

In 1960, the developers brought the machine's performance up to 1000 operations per second. This technology was borrowed further for electronic computers "Aragats", "Razdan", "Minsk" (produced in Yerevan and Minsk). These projects, implemented in parallel with the leading Moscow and Kiev programs, showed serious results later, during the transition of computers to transistors.

"Arrow"

Under the leadership of Yuri Bazilevsky, the Strela computer is being created in Moscow. The first sample of the device was completed in 1953. "Arrow" (like M-1) contained a memory on cathode ray tubes (MESM used trigger cells). The project of this computer model was so successful that mass production of this type of product began at the Moscow plant of calculating and analytical machines. In just three years, seven copies of the device were assembled: for use in the laboratories of Moscow State University, as well as in the computer centers of the USSR Academy of Sciences and a number of ministries.

Computer "Strela"

"Arrow" performed 2 thousand operations per second. But the device was very massive and consumed 150 kW of energy. The design used 6.2 thousand lamps and more than 60 thousand diodes. "Makhina" occupied an area of 300 m 2.

BESM

After being transferred to Moscow (in 1952), to the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering, Academician Lebedev set to work on the production of a new electronic computing device - the Large Electronic Computer, BESM. Note that the principle of building a new computer was largely borrowed from the early development of Lebedev. The implementation of this project was the beginning of the most successful series of Soviet computers.

BESM has already carried out up to 10,000 calculations per second. In this case, only 5000 lamps were used, and the power consumption was 35 kW. BESM was the first Soviet "wide profile" computer - it was originally supposed to be provided to scientists and engineers for carrying out calculations of varying complexity.

The BESM-2 model was developed for serial production. The number of operations per second was increased to 20 thousand. After testing CRT and mercury tubes, in this model, RAM was already on ferrite cores (the main type of RAM for the next 20 years). Serial production, which began at the Volodarsky plant in 1958, showed results in 67 units of equipment. BESM-2 marked the beginning of the development of military computers that controlled air defense systems: M-40 and M-50. As part of these modifications, the first Soviet computer of the second generation, 5E92b, was assembled, and the further fate of the BESM series was already connected with transistors.

The transition to transistors in Soviet cybernetics went smoothly. There are no particularly unique developments in this period of domestic computer building. Basically, old computer systems were re-equipped for new technologies.

Large electronic calculating machine (BESM)

The fully semiconductor computer 5E92b, designed by Lebedev and Burtsev, was created for the specific tasks of missile defense. It consisted of two processors (computing and controller of peripheral devices), had a self-diagnostics system and allowed "hot" replacement of computing transistor units. Performance was 500 thousand operations per second for the main processor and 37 thousand for the controller. Such a high performance of an additional processor was necessary, since not only traditional input-output systems, but also locators worked in conjunction with a computer unit. The computer occupied more than 100 m 2 .

Already after 5E92b, the developers returned to BESM again. The main task here is the production of universal computers on transistors. So there were BESM-3 (remained as a layout) and BESM-4. The last model was released in the amount of 30 copies. The computing power of BESM-4 is 40 operations per second. The device was mainly used as a "laboratory sample" for creating new programming languages, as well as a prototype for constructing more advanced models, such as BESM-6.

In the entire history of Soviet cybernetics and computer technology, BESM-6 is considered the most progressive. In 1965, this computer device was the most advanced in terms of manageability: an advanced self-diagnostic system, several operating modes, extensive capabilities for managing remote devices, the ability to pipeline 14 processor instructions, virtual memory support, instruction cache, reading and writing data. Computational performance - up to 1 million operations per second. The release of this model continued until 1987, and use - until 1995.

"Kiev"

After Academician Lebedev left for the "Golden-domed", his laboratory, together with the staff, came under the leadership of Academician B.G. Gnedenko (Director of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR). During this period, a course was taken for new developments. Thus, the idea of creating a computer on vacuum tubes and with memory on magnetic cores was born. He received the name "Kiev". During its development, the principle of simplified programming was first applied - the address language.

In 1956, the former Lebedev laboratory, renamed the Computing Center, was headed by V.M. Glushkov (today this department operates as the Institute of Cybernetics named after Academician Glushkov of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). It was under the leadership of Glushkov that "Kiev" was completed and put into operation. The machine remains in service at the Center, the second sample of the Kiev computer was purchased and assembled at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, Moscow region).

Viktor Mikhailovich Glushkov

For the first time in the history of the use of computer technology, with the help of "Kiev" it was possible to establish remote control of the technological processes of a metallurgical plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk. Note that the test object was removed from the car by almost 500 kilometers. "Kiev" was involved in a number of experiments on artificial intelligence, machine recognition of simple geometric shapes, modeling of automata for recognition of printed and written letters, automatic synthesis of functional circuits. Under the leadership of Glushkov, one of the first relational database management systems (“Autodirector”) was tested on the machine.

Although the basis of the device was the same vacuum tubes, the Kiev already had a ferrite-transformer memory with a volume of 512 words. The device also used an external memory block on magnetic drums with a total volume of nine thousand words. The computing power of this computer model was three hundred times higher than the capabilities of the MESM. The command structure is similar (three-address for 32 operations).

"Kiev" had its own architectural features: the asynchronous principle of transferring control between functional blocks was implemented in the machine; several memory blocks (ferrite random access memory, external memory on magnetic drums); input and output of numbers in the decimal number system; passive storage device with a set of constants and subroutines of elementary functions; advanced system of operations. The device performed group operations with address modification to improve the efficiency of processing complex data structures.

In 1955, Rameev's laboratory moved to Penza to develop another computer called "Ural-1" - a less expensive, hence mass-produced machine. Only 1000 lamps with an energy consumption of 10 kW - this has significantly reduced production costs. "Ural-1" was produced until 1961, a total of 183 computers were assembled. They were installed in computer centers and design offices around the world. For example, in the mission control center of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

"Ural 2-4" was also on vacuum tubes, but already used RAM on ferrite cores, performed several thousand operations per second.

Moscow State University at this time is designing its own computer - "Setun". It also went into mass production. Thus, 46 such computers were produced at the Kazan plant of computers.

"Setun" - an electronic computing device based on ternary logic. In 1959, this computer with its two dozen vacuum tubes performed 4.5 thousand operations per second and consumed 2.5 kW of energy. For this, ferrite-diode cells were used, which the Soviet electrical engineer Lev Gutenmakher tested back in 1954 when developing his lampless electronic computer LEM-1.

"Setuni" functioned safely in various institutions of the USSR. At the same time, the creation of local and global computer networks required maximum compatibility of devices (ie, binary logic). The future of computers lay in transistors, while lamps remained a relic of the past (like mechanical relays once did).

"Setun"

"Dnieper"

At one time, Glushkov was called an innovator; he repeatedly put forward bold theories in the field of mathematics, cybernetics and computer technology. Many of his innovations were supported and implemented during the lifetime of the academician. But time helped to fully appreciate the significant contribution that the scientist made to the development of these areas. With the name of V.M. Glushkov, domestic science connects the historical milestones of the transition from cybernetics to informatics, and then to information technology. The Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (until 1962 - the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR), headed by an outstanding scientist, specialized in improving computer technology, developing applied and system software, industrial production control systems, as well as information processing services in other areas of human activity. The Institute launched large-scale research on the creation of information networks, peripherals and components for them. It can be concluded with certainty that in those years the efforts of scientists were aimed at "conquering" all the main directions in the development of information technologies. At the same time, any scientifically based theory was immediately put into practice and found its confirmation in practice.

The next step in the domestic computer industry is associated with the appearance of the Dnepr electronic computing device. This apparatus became the first general-purpose semiconductor control computer for the entire Union. It was on the basis of "Dnepr" that attempts were made to mass-produce computer technology in the USSR.

This machine was designed and built in just three years, which was considered a very short time for such a design. In 1961, many Soviet industrial enterprises were re-equipped, and production management fell on the shoulders of computers. Glushkov later tried to explain why they managed to assemble the devices so quickly. It turns out that even at the stage of development and design, the CC closely cooperated with enterprises where computers were supposed to be installed. The features of production, stages were analyzed, and the algorithms of the entire technological process were built. This made it possible to more accurately program the machines, based on the individual industrial characteristics of the enterprise.

Several experiments were carried out with the participation of Dnepr on the remote control of industries of various specializations: steel, shipbuilding, chemical. Note that in the same period, Western designers designed a semiconductor computer for universal control RW300 similar to the domestic one. Thanks to the design and commissioning of the Dnepr computer, it was possible not only to shorten the distance in the development of computer technology between us and the West, but also to practically step foot in step.

Another achievement belongs to the Dnepr computer: the device was produced and used as the main production and computing equipment for ten years. This (by the standards of computer technology) is quite a significant period, since for most of these developments the stage of modernization and improvement was estimated at five to six years. This computer model was so reliable that it was entrusted with tracking the experimental space flight of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo shuttles, which took place in 1972.

For the first time, domestic computer engineering was exported. Also, a master plan was developed for the construction of a specialized plant for the production of computer hardware - a plant for computers and control machines (VCM), located in Kiev.

And in 1968, a small series of semiconductor computers "Dnepr 2" was released. These computers had a more mass purpose and were used to perform various computing, production and economic planning tasks. But serial production of "Dnepr 2" was soon suspended.

Dnepr met the following technical specifications:

two-address command system (88 commands);
binary number system;
26 fixed-point binary digits;
random access memory for 512 words (from one to eight blocks);
computing power: 20 thousand addition (subtraction) operations per second, 4 thousand multiplication (division) operations at the same time frequencies;
machine size: 35-40 m 2 ;
power consumption: 4 kW.

"Promin" and computers of the "MIR" series

1963 becomes a turning point for the domestic computer industry. This year, at the factory for the production of computers in Severodonetsk, the machine "Promin" (from Ukrainian - ray) is being produced. For the first time, memory blocks on metallized cards, stepped microprogram control and a number of other innovations were used in this device. The main purpose of this computer model was considered to be the product of engineering calculations of varying complexity.

Ukrainian computer "Promin" ("Luch")

Behind the "Ray" computers "Promin-M" and "Promin-2" entered mass production:

RAM: 140 words;
data input: from metallized punched cards or plug-in input;
the number of simultaneously memorized commands: 100 (80 - basic and intermediate, 20 - constants);
unicast command system with 32 operations;
computing power - 1000 simple tasks per minute, 100 multiplication calculations per minute.

Immediately after the models of the "Promin" series, an electronic computing device appeared with microprogram execution of the simplest computing functions - MIR (1965). Note that in 1967, at the world technical exhibition in London, the MIR-1 machine received a fairly high expert rating. The American company IBM (the world's leading exporter of computer equipment at that time) even purchased several copies.

MIR, MIR-1, and after them the second and third modifications were a truly unsurpassed word of technology of domestic and world production. MIR-2, for example, successfully competed with universal computers of a conventional structure, which surpassed it many times over in terms of nominal speed and memory capacity. On this machine, for the first time in the practice of domestic computer engineering, an interactive mode of operation was implemented using a display with a light pen. Each of these machines was a step forward on the road to building an intelligent machine.

With the advent of this series of devices, a new “machine” programming language, Analyst, was introduced into operation. The alphabet for input consisted of capital Russian and Latin letters, algebraic signs, symbols for highlighting the integer and fractional parts of a number, numbers, exponents of the order of numbers, punctuation marks, and so on. When entering information into the machine, it was possible to use the standard notation for elementary functions. Russian words, for example, "replace", "bit depth", "calculate", "if", "then", "table" and others were used to describe the computational algorithm and designate the form of output information. Any decimal values could be entered in any form. All necessary output parameters were programmed during the task setting period. "Analyst" made it possible to work with integers and arrays, edit entered or already running programs, change the bit depth of calculations by replacing operations.

The symbolic abbreviation MIR was nothing more than an abbreviation for the main purpose of the device: "machine for engineering calculations." These devices are considered to be among the first personal computers.

Technical parameters MIR:

binary-decimal number system;
fixed and floating point;
arbitrary bit depth and length of calculations (the only limitation was the amount of memory - 4096 characters);
computing power: 1000-2000 operations per second.

Data entry was carried out at the expense of a printing keyboard device (Zoemtron electric typewriter) included in the kit. The components were connected using the microprogram principle. Subsequently, thanks to this principle, it was possible to improve both the programming language itself and other device parameters.

Supercars of the Elbrus series

An outstanding Soviet developer V.S. Burtsev (1927-2005) in the history of domestic cybernetics is considered the chief designer of the first supercomputers and computer systems in the USSR for real-time control systems. He developed the principle of selection and digitization of the radar signal. This made it possible to produce the world's first automatic survey of data from a surveillance radar station for directing fighters to air targets. Successfully conducted experiments on the simultaneous tracking of several targets formed the basis for the creation of automatic targeting systems. Such schemes were built on the basis of the Diana-1 and Diana-2 computing devices, developed under the leadership of Burtsev.

Further, a group of scientists developed the principles for constructing computational missile defense (ABM) facilities, which led to the emergence of precision guidance radar stations. It was a separate high-performance computer complex, which allows, with maximum accuracy, automatic control of complex objects spaced over long distances online.

In 1972, for the needs of imported air defense systems, the first three-processor computers 5E261 and 5E265 were created, built on a modular basis. Each module (processor, memory, external communications controller) was completely covered by hardware control. This made it possible to automatically back up data in the event of failures or failures in the operation of individual components. The computational process was not interrupted in this case. The performance of this device was a record for those times - 1 million operations per second with very small dimensions (less than 2 m 3). These complexes in the S-300 system are still used on combat duty.

In 1969, the task was set to develop a computing system with a performance of 100 million operations per second. This is how the project of the multiprocessor computing complex "Elbrus" appears.

The development of machines of "beyond" capabilities had characteristic differences along with the development of universal electronic computing systems. Here, the maximum requirements were imposed both on the architecture and element base, and on the design of the computing system.

In the work on Elbrus and a number of previous developments, the issues of effective implementation of fault tolerance and continuous operation of the system were raised. Therefore, they have such features as multiprocessing and related means of parallelizing task branches.

In 1970, the planned construction of the complex began.

In general, Elbrus is considered a completely original Soviet development. It included such architectural and design solutions, thanks to which the performance of the MVC increased almost linearly with an increase in the number of processors. In 1980, Elbrus-1, with a total capacity of 15 million operations per second, successfully passed state tests.

The Elbrus-1 MVK became the first computer in the Soviet Union built on the basis of TTL microcircuits. Programmatically, its main difference is its focus on high-level languages. For this type of complexes, their own operating system, file system and El-76 programming system were also created.

Elbrus-1 provided speed from 1.5 to 10 million operations per second, and Elbrus-2 - more than 100 million operations per second. The second revision of the machine (1985) was a symmetrical multiprocessor computing complex of ten superscalar processors on matrix LSI, which were produced in Zelenograd.

Serial production of machines of such complexity required the urgent deployment of computer design automation systems, and this task was successfully solved under the leadership of G.G. Ryabov.

"Elbrus" generally carried a number of revolutionary innovations: superscalar processor processing, symmetric multiprocessor architecture with shared memory, implementation of secure programming with hardware data types - all these features appeared in domestic machines earlier than in the West. The creation of a unified operating system for multiprocessor systems was led by B.A. Babayan, who at one time was responsible for the development of the BESM-6 system software.

Work on the last machine of the family, Elbrus-3 with a speed of up to 1 billion operations per second and 16 processors, was completed in 1991. But the system turned out to be too cumbersome (due to the element base). Moreover, at that time more cost-effective solutions for the construction of working computer stations appeared.

Instead of a conclusion

The Soviet industry was fully computerized, but a large number of poorly compatible projects and series led to some problems. The main “but” concerned hardware incompatibility, which prevented the creation of universal programming systems: all series had different processor bit sizes, instruction sets, and even byte sizes. Yes, and mass production of Soviet computers can hardly be called (supplies occurred exclusively to computer centers and production). At the same time, the gap between American engineers increased. So, in the 60s, Silicon Valley was already confidently standing out in California, where progressive integrated circuits were being created with might and main.

In 1968, the state directive "Ryad" was adopted, according to which the further development of cybernetics of the USSR was directed along the path of cloning IBM S / 360 computers. Sergei Lebedev, who at that time remained the country's leading electrical engineer, was skeptical about Ryad. In his opinion, the path of copying was, by definition, the path of the laggards. But no one saw another way to quickly “pull up” the industry. The Research Center for Electronic Computing Technology was established in Moscow, the main task of which was the implementation of the Ryad program - the development of a unified series of computers similar to the S / 360.

The result of the work of the center is the appearance in 1971 of computers of the EC series. Despite the similarity of the idea with the IBM S / 360, Soviet developers did not have direct access to these computers, so the design of domestic machines began with software disassembly and logical architecture based on its operation algorithms.

Despite the fact that very few people could afford a personal computer, in the 1980s, such devices were actively developed in the USSR. A lot of products were presented, and for you we have prepared a list of the 10 coolest.

"Agate" (1984–1993)

The Agat computer was the first such device created for wide distribution and use in education. It was developed on the basis of the Apple II, released into mass production in 1984. Interestingly, it was produced right up to 1993. The Agata hard drive could hold up to 2 KB of information, but additional memory modules could be installed. RAM - up to 128 KB depending on the generation of the computer. The set also included two game joysticks.

"Corvette" (1987)

SSMU

Corvette was designed for work needs: it could process information, make calculations, compile data archives. The personal computer was one of the advanced developments of the USSR and displayed graphics at high speed. The developers even claimed that this setting was the best compared to the IBM PC. But due to the large number of marriages made during production, the Corvette did not become popular and was famous for its unreliability.

"Lviv PK-01" (1986–1991)

Created at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute, "Lviv PK-01" was made to organize training in schools and institutes. On it you could read books, do tasks or play. A household tape recorder served as external memory, and if necessary, a ROBOTRON printer could be connected to a computer. There were several modifications of the Lviv PK-01, but all developments were curtailed after the collapse of the USSR. It's a pity - the latest version of the computer even received a 256-color display, and indeed, the Lviv PK-01 had a real potential to become a home computer for everyone.

"Mikrosha" (1987)

One of the first PCs designed, as they say, "for the home, for the family." It was possible to display the image on a household TV, the cassette recorder acted as a memory. Therefore, programs like a text editor, assembler, calculator, games were produced for users - and all on cassettes. Democracy "Mikroshe" was added by the price: then it could be purchased for 500 rubles. Of course, a bit too much, but certainly not prohibitive.

"BK" (1983–1993)

The "Consumer Computers" series was created for the home and educational institutions. It even became relatively popular: the price of such a device ranged from 600 to 750 rubles, which was commensurate with the cost of a good color TV. It was three to four times the average salary, but families could afford to save up for such a computer. "BK" was controlled by the first Soviet full-fledged operating system DEMOS, which was often jokingly called UNAS ("with us"), parodying UNIX known abroad ("with them").

Robotron 1715 (1984–1989)

Waste

The amazingly functional Robotron 1715 computer was made in the GDR and became popular due to the fact that it had a wide range of features. For example, a text editor was not only convenient, but also worked correctly with Cyrillic, programming language compilers - Pascal, for example - made it possible to create complex programs. There were also quite a few games: Tetris, Tic-Tac-Toe, Chess, Labyrinth, Soviet analogues of Snake and Pac-Man. Later, the programmer Alexander Garnyshev created new games in which he managed to use the sounds of the printer as special effects for what was happening.

"Iskra 1030" (1989)

Created for teaching, the Iskra 1030 computer existed in two versions: one for teachers (with a hard drive) and the other for students (without it). The device was quite competitive - the amount of operating memory was 256 KB, and it could be increased to 1 MB.

"Radio-86RK" (1986)

Unique in its kind, the computer was intended for enthusiastic engineering and radio. I had to assemble it myself: buy parts, boards and mount all the components. Then the firmware was written, and the power supply, keyboard and case were made independently. It was proposed to use a TV as an output device. "Radio-86RK" was very difficult to assemble, and even more difficult to debug. Therefore, he was not very popular.

"Krista" (1986)

The computer worked on the Soviet analogue of the Intel 8080 processor and, in general, was very similar to Mikrosha. There was only one, but noticeable difference: "Krista" could be controlled with a light pen, pressing it on the area of the touch panel. In addition, the kit included a cassette, on one side of which were the games "Oregon Trail" and "Kingdom of Euphoria" (in addition to the standard ones), and on the other - several lessons for learning the BASIC language.

"Apogee BK-01" (1988–1991)

KMU

The computer, which was not outstanding in terms of its technical characteristics, certainly won in one thing: it cost 440 rubles. Users could play it, write lyrics or store information. And students of technical faculties received programs for calculations in higher mathematics and statistics.