Not everyone knows that in Russia there are domestic computers. "MCST" is the only company that has successfully engaged in the production of such equipment back in the days of the Soviet Union. The history of domestic computers began back in 1948. Today we will consider what computing devices were developed in our country. This information will be very useful and interesting.
Mesm
The first domestic personal computer was created in the Ukrainian SSR by the founder of Soviet computer engineering Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev.
In 1944, he headed the Institute of Energy of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, which specialized in such areas as electrical and heat engineering. It was here that Lebedev began in 1948 the creation of the first domestic computer.
The dimensions of this unit were very impressive. The first domestic computer occupied a huge area - as many as 60 square meters. Despite these dimensions, the name was given to him this: Small Electronic Calculating Machine (MESM). She made record at that time three thousand computing operations per minute.
MESM characteristics:
- The binary system for fixing the comma before the high order in the account system.
- 17 bits.
- RAM capacity was 63 teams and 31 numbers.
- The volume of the device is similar to the RAM system.
- Three-address command system.
- The system could solve such problems: four elementary operations, a shift, a comparison taking into account the sign. She could also transfer control and read numbers from a magnetic drum.
- Data entry was carried out using a programming system.
- Monoblock device of parallel action on trigger cells.
This technique took up a lot of space and had significant energy consumption. Subsequent models were already more compact and economical in terms of energy consumption.
Computer series "M"
But not only Lebedev was the first to create such a technique. In the history of domestic computers, there are such names: Krzyzhanovsky, Isaac Brook and Bashir Rameev. It was they who in 1948 in Moscow filed an application with the patent office for computer registration. Unfortunately, the car was in many ways inferior to Lebedev's computer. She performed only 20 operations per second (Lebedev 50). However, its size and consumption became a huge advantage. Unlike MESM, this computer needed 8 kW and it occupied only 5 square meters.
In 1952, the M-2 model was produced. The creators increased the productivity of this technique a hundred times, but the area increased to 20 square meters. However, this model was not mass-produced.
"Baby" - so they called the third domestic computer. Its area was only 3 square meters, but this technique could be performed much less than its predecessor (30 operations per second). This was enough for many tasks, because a small batch of "Baby" was released.
"Arrow"
Yuri Vasilevsky in Moscow was also engaged in the creation of a domestic computer. Under his leadership, designed the computer "Strela". The first sample appeared in 1953. The unit was so successful that it immediately began mass production. “Strela” could be found both at Moscow State University and at the USSR Academy of Sciences, even among many ministers.
Unlike its predecessors, Bazilevsky’s computer performed 2 thousand operations in one second, but at the same time occupied an area of 300 square meters and consumed 150 kW of energy.
BESM
MESM is not the only creation of Lebedev. In 1952 he was transferred to Moscow, where he began to create a more advanced domestic personal computer. The old prototype was taken as a basis. The new unit has become one of the most successful projects in the history of computer engineering in the USSR. They called him BESM.
He performed 10 thousand operations per second and consumed 35 kW. This technique was created specifically to facilitate the work of scientists and researchers and carried out calculations of varying complexity.
The second series of computers was created specifically for mass production. The number of operations they performed was 20 thousand per second. It was this model that laid the foundation for the creation of military computers.
"Kiev"
After Lebedev left for Moscow, B.G. headed his laboratory. Gnedenko. Under his leadership, the Kiev unit begins to be created. One of the implementations in this computer was the address language, which everyone is using now.
In 1956, the laboratory was headed by Victor Mikhailovich Glushkov. It was he who completed the development of "Kiev" and put it into operation.
Thanks to the development of Kiev, the first remote control appeared. The test was conducted at a distance of 500 kilometers. In addition, the computer participated in the development of artificial intelligence, recognition of simple geometric shapes, automation of the synthesis of functional circuits, and modeling of automatic recognition of letters and numbers. This device had a volume of 512 words, its computational functions increased 300 times compared with MESM.
Features of the Kiev computer:
- The computer had an asynchronous principle of transfer between function blocks.
- It was possible to enter in decimal notation and output numbers.
- Several blocks of memory.
- Passive storage device with a set of constants and subroutines of elementary functions.
Soviet computers developed in the 50s
In 1955, the inventor B.I. Rameev in Penza created a new Ural-1 unit. The project was less expensive, but rather overall. Power consumption - 10 kW. The release continued until 1961. These computers were installed in design bureaus and at Baikonur.
"Dnieper"
The next step in the development of computer engineering was the creation of the Dnieper. Work was carried out for only three years. In 1961, all industrial enterprises were equipped with computers.
This model was rated extremely highly. It was she who tracked most of the experimental space flights in 1972. Also, this model began to be exported abroad.
Dnipro had the following characteristics:
- A two-address binary instruction system.
- Size - 35-40 square meters.
- 26 binary digits.
- 20 thousand operations of addition or subtraction per second, 4 thousand operations of multiplication or division in one second.
- Power consumption - 4 kW.
"Ray" and "WORLD"
1963 was another stage in the improvement of domestic computer engineering. In Severodonetsk, the Luch unit is being created. Its main function is to carry out engineering calculations of any complexity. However, Luch-2 and Luch-3 went into serial production. They differed in the following characteristics:
- The number system is binary decimal.
- The amount of RAM was 140 words.
- Metallic punch cards or plug-in input.
- The number of instant catchy teams is 100.
- Command system with 32 operations.
- Power - 1000 elementary tasks per minute.
Following the "Ray" creates a model of the "WORLD". In 1967, she took part in the London exhibition, where the then-famous IBM company acquired several domestic computers of this series.
The characteristic of the "World":
- Binary decimal number system.
- Floating and fixed commas.
- Bit depth and length of calculations (memory capacity - 4096 characters).
- Power - 1 000-2 000 operations per second.
Unlike other computers, the MIR computer already included a keyboard.
Elbrus
Another brilliant person in computer engineering is V.S. Burtsev. It was under his leadership that the first missile defense system (missile defense) and Elbrus were created. In 1980, the unit showed unprecedented results, it could already produce 15 million operations in one second.
In total, three series of this model were released. Elbrus-3 was brought up to 1 billion operations per second; its development was completed in 1991. The system turned out to be rather overall, by the end of the prototype production more economical options for creating domestic computers appeared.
Conclusion
At the moment, the characteristics of modern computers are an order of magnitude higher than that of the first Soviet or American ones. Now BESM, MESM, Elbrus have not been used for a long time. However, it was they who gave impetus to development in the field of electronic computers.