View source for History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries

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{{for|the history of computer hardware in the Soviet Union|History of computing in the Soviet Union}}
{{History of computing}}
The '''history of computing hardware in the Eastern Bloc''' is somewhat different from that of the [[Western world]]. As a result of the [[CoCom]] embargo, computers could not be imported on a large scale from [[Western Bloc]].

[[Eastern Bloc]] manufacturers created copies of Western designs based on intelligence gathering and [[reverse engineering]].<ref name="hackaday">{{cite web|title=Home Computers Behind The Iron Curtain|url=https://hackaday.com/2014/12/15/home-computers-behind-the-iron-curtain/|website=Hackaday|access-date=7 November 2017|date=15 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108035305/https://hackaday.com/2014/12/15/home-computers-behind-the-iron-curtain/|archive-date=8 November 2017}}</ref> This redevelopment led to some incompatibilities with [[International Electrotechnical Commission]] (IEC) and [[IEEE]] standards, such as spacing [[Dual in-line package|integrated circuit]] pins at {{frac|1|10}} of a 25&nbsp;mm length (colloquially a "metric inch") instead of a standard [[inch]] of 25.4&nbsp;mm.<ref name=Deza2009>{{ citation | title=Encyclopedia of Distances | first1=Michel | last1=Deza | date=28 May 2009 | publisher=Google eBooks | page=497 | isbn=9783642002342 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXEezzccwcoC&q=%22metric+inch%22+russia+OR+russian+OR+USSR+OR+soviet&pg=PA497 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=LXEezzccwcoC&lpg=PA497&dq=%22metric%20inch%22%20russia%20OR%20russian%20OR%20USSR%20OR%20soviet&pg=PA497#v=onepage&q=%22metric%20inch%22%20russia%20OR%20russian%20OR%20USSR%20OR%20soviet&f=false | archive-date=2017-11-04 }}</ref> This made Soviet chips unsellable on the world market outside the [[Comecon]], and made test machinery more expensive.<ref>Fred Langa, "An Editor's View" sidebar to "Computing in the U.S.S.R.", April 1991 ''[[BYTE Magazine]]'', page 129</ref>

==History==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S1024-016, VEB Robotron Elektronik Dresden, Computer EC 1040.jpg|thumb|The [[ES EVM|ES-1040]] mainframe in Dresden, East Germany]]
By the end of the 1950s most [[COMECON]] countries had developed experimental computer designs, yet none of them had managed to create a stable computer industry.<ref name="goodman82pi">{{cite book|last1=Goodman|first1=Seymour E.|title=The Partial Integration of the CEMA Computer Industries|date=August 1982|url=https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1982-624-13b-Goodman.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828112009/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1982-624-13b-Goodman.pdf|archive-date=2017-08-28}}</ref>

In October 1962 the "Commission for Scientific Problems in Computing" (Комиссия Научные Вопросы Вычислительной Техники, КНВВТ) was founded in Warsaw and modelled after the [[International Federation for Information Processing]].<ref>Bl. Sendov, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: [http://www.scholze-simmel.at/starbus/ws8/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BSendov.pdf First Decade on Scientific Cooperation between the Socialist Countries in Computing], 8th IT STAR Workshop on History of Computing.</ref><ref>Hans Dieter Hellige (ed.): Geschichten der Informatik. Visionen, Paradigmen, Leitmotive. Berlin, Springer 2004, {{ISBN|3-540-00217-0}}. p. 267.</ref>

Computer design and production began to be coordinated between the Comecon countries in 1964, when the [[ES EVM|Edinaya Sistema]] mainframe (Unified System, ES, also known as RIAD) was introduced.<ref name="rezun96">{{cite book|last1=Rezun|first1=Miron|title=Science, Technology, and Ecopolitics in the USSR|date=1996|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780275953836|page=59-65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrULmz5IVZQC&pg=PA59|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=rrULmz5IVZQC&pg=PA59|archive-date=2017-11-04}}</ref> The project also included plans for the development of a joint Comecon computer network.<ref name="rezun96"/>

Each COMECON country was given a role in the development of the ES: Hungary was responsible for software development, while East Germany improved the design of [[disk storage]] devices.<ref name="rezun96"/> The ES-1040 was successfully exported to countries outside the Comecon, including India, Yugoslavia and China.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Riads Solidly Implanted in Comecon Nations|journal=Computerworld|date=3 July 1978|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ntlefilq6twC&pg=PA41|access-date=12 November 2017|publisher=IDG Enterprise|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ntlefilq6twC&pg=PA41|archive-date=4 November 2017}}</ref> Each country specialized in a model of the ES series: R-10 in the case of Hungary, R-20 in Bulgaria, R-20A in Czechoslovakia, R-30 in Poland and R-40 in East Germany.<ref name="targowski16">{{cite book|last1=Targowski|first1=Andrew|title=The History, Present State, and Future of Information Technology|date=2016|publisher=Informing Science|isbn=9781681100029|page=94-97|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUR4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105131637/https://books.google.com/books?id=fUR4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|archive-date=2017-11-05}}</ref>

[[Nairi (computer)|Nairi]]-3, developed at the Armenian Institute for Computers, was the first third-generation computer in the Comecon area, using [[integrated circuit]]s.<ref name="comecon74"/> Development on the Nairi system began in 1964, and it went into serial production in 1969.<ref name="comecon74"/>

In 1969 the Intergovernmental Commission for Computer Technology was founded to coordinate computer production.<ref name="comecon74">{{cite book|last1=Wilczynski|first1=J.|title=Technology in Comecon|date=1974|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349017942|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFGuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|language=en|pages=109–110|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=MFGuCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|archive-date=2017-11-04}}</ref> Other cooperation initiatives included the establishment of joint Comecon development facilities in Moscow and Kiev.<ref name="reed72">{{cite book|title=New Scientist|date=1972|publisher=Reed Business Information|page=508|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvY3ffWkiYYC&pg=PA508|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=vvY3ffWkiYYC&pg=PA508|archive-date=2017-11-04}}</ref> The [[Robotron 300|R-300]] computer, released in 1969, demonstrated the technical and managerial skills of [[VEB Robotron]], and established a leading role for East Germany in the joint development efforts.<ref name="goodman82pi"/> The relative success of Robotron was attributed to its greater organizational freedom, and the profit motive of securing export orders.<ref name="goodman82pi"/>
In 1970, Cuba produced its first digital computer, the [[CID-201]].<ref name="Sanz">{{cite news |last1=Sanz Araujo |first1=Lucía |title=Cumpleaños 40 de la primera computadora cubana |url=https://www.radiorebelde.cu/noticia/cumpleanos-40-primera-computadora-cubana-20100416/ |access-date=20 October 2020 |publisher=Juventud Rebelde |date=2010-04-16 |language=es |archive-date=2021-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116085727/http://www.radiorebelde.cu/noticia/cumpleanos-40-primera-computadora-cubana-20100416/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

By 1972 the Comecon countries had produced around 7,500 computers, compared to 120,000 in the rest of the world.<ref name="comecon74"/> The USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania had all set up computer production and research institutes.<ref name="comecon74"/> Collaboration between Romania and the other countries was limited, due to the autarkic policies of [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]].<ref name="geipel88">{{cite web|last1=Goodman|first1=Seymour E .|last2=Jarmoszko|first2=A . Tomasz|last3=Geipel|first3=Gary L .|title=Computer Technologies In Eastern Europe: The Impact Of Reform|url=https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1988-802-08-Jarmoszko.pdf|access-date=4 November 2017|date=December 1988|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828112032/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1988-802-08-Jarmoszko.pdf|archive-date=28 August 2017}}</ref>

The availability of western computing hardware differed considerably between communist countries; in the early 1970s they were most common in Czechoslovakia, where a licensing agreement was signed with the French [[Groupe Bull]].<ref name="reed72"/> Non-Soviet Eastern European countries had more access to Western technology, which allowed them to manufacture more sophisticated computer equipment.<ref name="braun83">{{cite book|last1=Braun|first1=Aurel|title=Small-State Security in the Balkans|date=1983|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349061334|page=110|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSivCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104180641/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSivCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA110|archive-date=2017-11-04}}</ref>

In 1983 the representatives of the national academies of sciences of the Comecon countries met in [[Sofia]] to discuss the development of a new generation of computer systems.<ref name="hal17">{{cite journal|last1=Zakharov|first1=Victor|last2=Lavrenjuk|first2=Yuri|title=Conception of New Generation Computer Systems – The Last Large-Scale Initiative in Computers of the COMECON Countries: A Glance after Twenty Years|journal=HAL|date=July 2017|url=https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01568395/document|access-date=5 November 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105131637/https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01568395/document|archive-date=5 November 2017}}</ref> In June 1985 the “Conception of a new generation of computer systems” was approved in Prague, with the objective of creating a socialist response to the Japanese [[fifth generation computer]] initiative.<ref name="hal17"/> The document planned the development of the IT industry in socialist countries up to the year 2010.<ref name="hal17"/>

In 1985 Ukrainian researchers managed to reverse-engineer the [[ZX Spectrum]] chip and built a hardware clone using readily available parts.<ref name="kotakuspectrum">{{cite news|title=The Land Where the Spectrum Lived On|url=http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/06/the-land-where-the-spectrum-lived-on|access-date=12 November 2017|work=Kotaku UK|date=6 July 2015|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321034958/http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/07/06/the-land-where-the-spectrum-lived-on|archive-date=21 March 2017}}</ref> Over 50 different versions of the Spectrum were created in Eastern Bloc countries over the next few years, including the [[Hobbit (computer)|Hobbit]], [[Baltica (computer)|Baltica]], [[Pentagon (computer)|Pentagon]], [[Scorpion (computer)|Scorpion]], [[Leningrad (computer)|Leningrad]], [[Didaktik]] (Czechoslovakia), [[Spectral (computer)|Spectral]] (East Germany) and [[Cobra (computer)|Cobra]] (Romania).<ref name="kotakuspectrum"/>

[[File:Pn-pravez-class-4.jpg|thumb|A Bulgarian-made [[Pravetz computers|Pravetz computer]]]]
In 1985 the [[History of computer hardware in Bulgaria|computer industry of Bulgaria]] exported computer hardware to over 20 countries, manufacturing personal computers, word processing terminals and memory tapes and disks.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Binder|first1=David|last2=Times|first2=Special to the New York|title=Bulgaria's Ambitious High-Tech Goals|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/04/business/bulgaria-s-ambitious-high-tech-goals.html|access-date=4 November 2017|work=The New York Times|date=4 July 1985|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201215141/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/04/business/bulgaria-s-ambitious-high-tech-goals.html|archive-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> At its peak, the country provided 40% of computers in the Comecon area.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Heart of Darkness|url=https://www.wired.com/1997/11/heartof/|access-date=4 November 2017|magazine=WIRED|date=1 November 1997|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808200337/https://www.wired.com/1997/11/heartof/|archive-date=8 August 2017}}</ref>

After the collapse of Comecon in 1989, the computer hardware sector in its former member countries could not compete with foreign manufacturers, and virtually disappeared.<ref name="hirschhausen00">{{cite book|last1=Hirschhausen|first1=Christian von|last2=Bitzer|first2=Jürgen|title=The Globalization of Industry and Innovation in Eastern Europe: From Post-socialist Restructuring to International Competitiveness|date=2000|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=9781782542308|page=287|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpdEusF7QMEC&pg=PA287|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105131637/https://books.google.com/books?id=VpdEusF7QMEC&pg=PA287|archive-date=2017-11-05}}</ref> Tens of thousands of IT scientists and engineers migrated to Western Europe for employment, not always in fields related to their expertise.<ref name="cortada12">{{cite book|last1=Cortada|first1=James W.|title=The Digital Flood: The Diffusion of Information Technology Across the U.S., Europe, and Asia|date=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199921553|page=298|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQEpEyeIFyEC&pg=PA298|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105131637/https://books.google.com/books?id=NQEpEyeIFyEC&pg=PA298|archive-date=2017-11-05}}</ref>

==Unified System project==
{{main|ES EVM}}
[[File:R-30, EC 1030, Targi Lipsk, stoisko PRL (I19750708).jpg|thumb|ES 1030 at the [[Leipziger Messe]], 1975]]
[[ES EVM]] (ЕС ЭВМ, Единая система электронных вычислительных машин, meaning "Unified System of Electronic Computers") was a series of [[Clone (computing)|clones]] of IBM's System/360 and System/370 mainframes. The objective of the project, which was also known as Ryad ('series'), was to create a [[general purpose computer]] for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.<ref name="ciaryad80"/> Initially announced as a Soviet venture in 1967, in 1969 it became an international project, involving Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland.<ref name="ciaryad80">{{cite web|title=Use of Western Technology in the Ryad Computers of the USSR and Eastern Europe|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00176R000900010001-6.pdf|publisher=CIA|access-date=5 November 2017|date=April 1980|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123030824/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00176R000900010001-6.pdf|archive-date=23 January 2017}}</ref> Romania and Cuba joined the project in 1973.<ref name="ciaryad80"/>

The first models entered serial production in 1972.<ref name="comecon74"/> According to CIA sources, by 1975 the Comecon countries had managed to build only 10% to 15% of the anticipated number of ES computers.<ref name="ciaryad77">{{cite web|title=Soviet RYAD Computer: A Program in Trouble|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000498612.pdf|publisher=CIA|access-date=5 November 2017|date=September 1977|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516182844/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000498612.pdf|archive-date=16 May 2017}}</ref> Production continued until 1995.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.computer-museum.ru/histussr/es_hist.htm
 |title       = Исторический обзор семейства ЕС ЭВМ
 |trans-title = Historical overview of the ES EVM family
 |author      = Пржиялковский В.В.
 |language    = ru
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20171108210504/http://www.computer-museum.ru/histussr/es_hist.htm
 |archive-date = 2017-11-08
}}</ref>{{fact|date=November 2017}} The total number of ES EVM mainframes produced was more than 15,000.

In the period from 1986 to 1997, a series of PC-compatible desktop computers, called ПЭВМ ЕС ЭВМ (Personal Computers of ES EVM series), was also produced; the newer versions of these computers are still produced under a different name on a very limited scale in Minsk.{{fact|date=November 2017}}

== Small Machines System project ==
{{main|SM EVM}}
[[SM EVM]] (СМ ЭВМ, Система Малых ЭВМ, meaning "System of Small Electronic Computers") was an intergovernmental program for creating [[minicomputer]]s, run by the [[Ministry of Instrument Making (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Instrument Making]].<ref name="goodman">{{cite book
 |title         = Global Trends in Computer Technology and Their Impact on Export Control
 |collaboration = Committee to Study International Developments in Computer Science and Technology
 |last          = Goodman
 |first         = Seymour E.
 |publisher     = National Academy Press
 |year          = 1988
 |page          = 149
 |url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=wkErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA149
 |url-status       = live
 |archive-url    = https://web.archive.org/web/20171112185001/https://books.google.com/books?id=wkErAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA149
 |archive-date   = 2017-11-12
}}</ref> The program initially included two major architectural lines based on [[DEC PDP-11]] architecture and [[HP 2100]] architecture. Later the program included a family of DEC [[VAX]] compatible computers and [[Multibus]] based microcomputers. Minicomputers developed within the framework of the program were intended for use as computer based control systems, measuring and computing systems and workstations for [[CAD]] systems.<ref name="smevm">{{cite web| author =Филинов Е.Н.| title =Система малых ЭВМ (СМ ЭВМ)| trans-title =System of Small Electronic Computers (SM EVM)| language =ru| url =http://www.computer-museum.ru/histussr/sm_evm.htm| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20130720111600/http://www.computer-museum.ru/histussr/sm_evm.htm| archive-date =2013-07-20| access-date =2017-11-09}}</ref> As in the case of ES EVM, the program began as a Soviet venture and in 1974 became an international project involving Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, [[Cuba]], East Germany, [[Hungary]], Poland and Romania.<ref name="smevm" />

== TPA ==
TPA (Tárolt Programú Analizátor,<ref>{{Citation|title=Tárolt Programú Analizátor|date=2019-10-22|url=https://hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=T%C3%A1rolt_Program%C3%BA_Analiz%C3%A1tor&oldid=21842475|work=Wikipédia|language=hu|access-date=2019-10-23}}</ref> meaning "Stored-Program Analyser") was a Hungarian product line of computers. It could not be referred as a computer, though, as computers were meant to be produced by the Soviet Union. The project started based on the freely available manuals of [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[PDP-8]] in 1966 and products made available in 1968. TPAs were 100% software compatible with their original counterparts. The project remained highly popular for about 25 years. [[PDP-11]] compatible TPAs appeared in 1976, [[VAX-11]] compatibles in 1983.

Due to CoCom restrictions 32 bit computers could not be exported to the Eastern Bloc. In practice 32-bit DEC computers and processors were available. Those were rebranded as TPA.

==See also==
* [[History of computer hardware in Bulgaria]]
* [[History of computing in Poland]]
* [[History of computing in Romania]]
* [[History of computing in the Soviet Union]]
* [[History of computer hardware in Yugoslavia]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071220022647/http://rk86.com/frolov/ Soviet calculators and computers collection by Sergei Frolov]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110509155115/http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node%2F85%2F Pioneers of Soviet Computing]
* [http://www.15kop.ru/en/ Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines] at the [[Moscow State Technical University]].
* [http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/pages/russians.html Steal The Best], a [[micrograph]] of a [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[CVAX]] microprocessor used in the [[MicroVAX]] and [[VAX 6000|VAX 6200]] systems. It contains "VAX — when you care enough to steal the very best" translated in broken Russian as a message to Soviet reverse engineers.
* [http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/easteurope_ro.html Soviet Bloc computers with references to Romania]
* [http://www.robotrontechnik.de/ Computing in East Germany] (in German)
* [http://www.cpushack.com/soviet-cpus.html List of Soviet Russian made CPUs and support chips]

{{List of Soviet computer systems}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries}}
[[Category:History of computing hardware|Eastern Bloc countries]]
[[Category:Comecon]]
[[Category:Eastern Bloc]]