Fun fact: you can see the 15ИЭ-00-013 terminals onboard of the Solaris orbital station in Andrey Tarkovsky timeless classic movie “Solaris”, together with a bunch of various recognizable 60s-70s Soviet lab test equipment such as millivoltmeters, signal generators, vacuum gauges and oscilloscopes.
These 15ИЭ-00- ....Fryazino displays had been on TV news every day at 9 00PM because somewhere was a grand opening event of a new data center or an IT site.
Khaki shade powder coated connector is a 'cannon' type, so called soviet clone a SB or something like that. In 1923 James Cannon developed the M plug and revolutionized electronics industry and turned the "Cannon plug" into a generic name. Then in 1927 Douglas Aircraft Co. began to use 'cannons' in avionics. Nowadays ITT Corp. producing them, I personally familiar with product from GlenAire and AB Connectors 'cannons'.
The main chip on the graphics card (shown clearly at 12:15) is a KM1801BM2, which is the 40 pin version of the CPU (smaller address bus). So I suspect someone else's comment about missing ROMs might be accurate, unless the firmware for this board is run out of RAM. "Fun" fact (for small levels of fun). The reason for the unusual socket for the main CPU is that its pin spacing is only 2.5 mm wide, not the standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) pitch.
Can we all just stop for a moment and think about how amazing this video is. 2 Ukrainians are teaching us about a Soviet PDP clone, using a technology designed in the 60s, and served to us by a Dude from CERN...
I used to run a PDP-11/34 which I upgraded to 11/44 standard with a Nissho board. Programmed mostly in Macro-11, some Fortran IV (couldn't find the money for the Fortran 77 compiler) and a tiny bit of C (using that public domain compiler). Apart from my ATC-related programming I remember doing a "snake" game for VT-100 (using escape sequences), two adjacent terminals woiuld fight on the screen of one (but using both keyboards), the winner was he whose snake managed to encircle the other one and cause it to crash into a wall (or a snake). Good times.
I recall doing machine language programming using Macro-11 - then DEC introduced BLISS with the phrase “ignorance is Bliss” it almost won over the C programming language at one point in time
Мне приходилось программировать на этой машине и не только программировать, но и ремонтировать. Дома была аналогичная на 1801ВМ3 с двумя жесткими дисками и двумя дисководами, принтер был Robotron производства ГДР. Программы писал на "С", использовали графику КЦГД под программным движком KEYGP. Даже был свой графический редактор разработанный в городе Зеленоград на заводе "Квант". Кстати "Квант" их и выпускал. Будучи радиолюбителем на этой машине принимал радиотелетайп RTTY и радиофакс FAX. Интересное было время.
@@ChernobylFamily У компьютеров ДВК изначально была плата не способная выдавать графику. К ней можно было подключать плату размером 1/2 и она позволяла отображать не только символы, но и графику. Название уже не помню. Позже появилась плата КЦГД (контроллер цифро-графического дисплея) Эта плата уже могла работать с графикой и даже с цветом (!). Но для полноценной работы нужна была программная поддержка. Было несколько таких программных движков, но самым хорошим была программа KEYGP. Это была разработка программистов завода Квант. К ДВК выпускалась еще плана на сопроцессоре К1801ВМ4. Насколько помню это была плата для вычислений Фурье.
@@SuperEnergy2012 изначально у ДВК2 был аналог VT52 (или VT100). Если посмотреть на их картинки внимательно, то можно заметить, что у них была 25ая строка с аппаратно выводимым туда состоянием интерфейса ввода/вывода (вроде скорость порта, какие-то служебные биты, диагностика и что-то ещё вроде времени))
Glad to meet you both and "the little engineer"... Those Amphenol type (military connectors) ensure you could swing the terminal over your head USING THE CABLE!!
Моя юность, на заводе "Радио Прибор". Помню эту машину в отделе "поверки и калибровки", если правильно помню название. Обычно они возились с атомными часами, машина у них для чего то использовалась но для чего уже не помню. Спасибо за подробный рассказ и демонстрацию "содержимого". Удивлен что эти машины еще не попали в лапы афинажников.
Great Video. The PDP-11 was a very popular system used in the Nuclear Industry. I remember reading a few years ago that at least one Canadian Nuclear Power Plant still uses them today.
PDP-11 was the best thing in computing for many years, it’s only because of the rise of the personal computing market (and bad corporate decisions) that the platform and its successors died out. Without these machines though the infrastructure the modern world runs on may never have come to be.
Thank you both for your comments. We so far are not that good in this platform (though we know much about its use here), need to learn more about the hardware in general. But it is an amazing journey!
@@Underestimated37 I only know of the PDP series historically. I have a little experience operating VMS on the VAX and Alpha systems that followed it. Knowing that some of the US military systems not that long ago still used 8" floppy disks, I'm not shocked a nuclear plant still uses PDPs, but it's certainly technical debt at this point (and even long ago).
@@jasonhaman4670 often systems like this are preferred as they’re so obsolete that malicious outsiders can’t interfere with them, and the programming languages are dead or obscure. As long as the machine performs its core tasks, it can often be left in place until end of life. The other good thing was they’re often from an era where specialized parts aren’t needed either.
@@Underestimated37 I work in industrial IT... security by obsolescense or obscurity is a thing, but it's risky. Now, if it's truly isolated, then sure, as long as they can maintain a team that fully understands the system and is able to maintain it, sure. But as the decades pass, that becomes move of a challenge.
This was genuinely interesting! In Sweden the PDP-11 seem to be one of the more popular ones, but i had never seen this version before, it's awesome You finally managed to get one!
About graphics card. It may seem weird from a modern standpoint, but back then it was quite common for seemingly unrelated functions to be placed on the same daughter board or even in one chip, especially if both of those functions were essential. It was made just to save some space and money in production. This way of designing was likely just adopted by the engineers who were reverse-engineering those old systems.
Thank you! The thing is, there exists a separate controller called KTLK for the telegraph channel, though your idea seems to be very very possible (it is enough to remember the floppy controller for ES 1841 that hosts a mouse). Therefore we asked that question
The very basic setup of the DVK-3 reminds me of the Tandy TRS-80 all-in-one-units, where the logic boards were installed in a backplane behind the CRT. The DVK-3 is a quirky, but beautiful machine. I'd love to spend some time with one and learn its secrets!
i am very amused -- but first thanks for your good english (i'm german),,, 100% ok to understand... you described a russian pdp11-clone (oh that's high-tech,,,) -- in the 1980s i had access to an oroginal dec-pdp11/2,,, that was 5 times the hardware you had shown,,, -- the floppy-formatter-board (including 2 x 8inch floppy drives was bigger than the drives together (bake-oven-size 1mx0,5m) --- only the floppy controller,,, oh wow,,, but it worked with rt11 (original dec-runtime-os 11) and add on was rt11-basic. --> a 2m wide documentation in us-legal 12inch folders,,, -- in today's 2022 you can be happy to get a "quick-start" page (printed on real paper if...) or only a littele "readme.txt" on the disc -- if even delivered??? i did not come over yet, to subscribe your channel,,, that's "history",,, really -- thanks for...
What a beauty! Looks like you could hit it with a hammer... and ruin the hammer. Just discovered your channel . It's awesome. I've been curious about soviet era computers since I heard of Sinclair clones, so this is a treasure. I loved the joke about big soviet chips, but Motorola 68000, for example, was big enough to take a nap on top of it.
Interesting how this uses the K(M)1801VM3, which is an improvement over the K(R)1801VM1 used in the BK homecomputers of the UDSSR. All the best for the repair/restoration!
@@ChernobylFamily As soon as this video finishes I plan on it! Thank you for documenting these old machines, being from the US I know very little about them and love seeing content on them. Keep up the fantastic work :-D
Oh snap! I finally figured the origin of it, the keypad seen @ 7:08 ! Have it around for a real while but never remembered where it is from. A really fascinating thing it is, as the buttons are actually magnetic, each packed with a Hall sensor IC (yes, not even a Reed switch). The top one feeds an output buffer directly (yes, this pad has a buffer IC), the other two control the T-triggers on the keypad board to both drive the other two buffers and the corresponding LEDs. The only thing but the IC power (along with the mains LED) and the buffer outputs routed to the pin header of this thing are the pins of the failure red LED routed directly, guess there is something behind this solution.
@@ChernobylFamily Lol yeah, I never really measured though I estimate somewhat 20 mA per LED, those are kinda old, - and two TTL ICs (triggers and buffer array)... Pretty much like a Bluetooth, not even BLE, complete keyboard )) Though those Hall keys are something, guess their lifespan is the closest to infinite a button may ever get. Won't mind an ESD receiver shield though, but doubt something made almost completely from plastic has a high chance of flashing over, especially with the metal plate around.
I have always been curious about those teams that are absolutely unknown by the public in my country, Argentina.At that time I began to learn at home with the Sinclair 1500. Very Interesting good job and thanks.
Well, we go to the zone qlready a decade and regularly. However, this and other machines do not originate from there, these are identical types. Soviet computers in the Zone are beyond repair.
I started my computing career on a PDP-90 followed by a PDP-11 followed by an Intel MPW. The Intel Microprocessor Workstation was interesting because it was programmed by 'flipping' bits in an on-screen display. The screen was divided into blocks of sixteen 'bits' - if you got one wrong you didn't find out until the compiler had completed some two hours or so later and you had programmed the EPROM. Not EEPROM - if you had got it wrong the very expensive EPROM was scrap.
In order to obtain the certification upon electrical safety qualification necessary to study 3 (three) different codes, related to: 1) electrical safety [ПТБ], 2) technical operation of electrical installation [ПТЭ], 3) electrical installation [ПУЭ]. I've done that, when I'd been hired by city power company.
Only 30 years? I got to play Lunar Lander on their PDP-11 at the Air Force Academy roughly 50 years ago. :) BTW, Soviet era electronics are pretty cool. I've got a couple of VEF-Spidola-6 radios as well as a Okean-222. And a number (an inexplicably large number) of MK-52 calcs as well as other Elektronika calculators (desk and handheld).
these boards full of really nice and odd chips are pure joy for CPU collectors. Staggered "spider" chips (presumably glue logic/chipset here?) are somewhat rare in western tech for starter, but this enormous 64 pins custom size white ceramic packaged CPU is a fantastic sight to behold. It would have cost a fortune to manufacture!
Loved the tour. I think there's a house of nerds in Texas that will want to see this. Looks like a very respectable machine. Good quality components for the era. I'll have to read more about that CPU, it's performance was impressive for any microcomputer in the era.
@@ChernobylFamily In some ways, this seems to be a better "desktop conversion" / transition from minicomputer to microcomputer than DEC's own Professional 325/350/380 series !
I don't know about that but the IBM PC had combined video and printer boards and some third part video card manufacturers added also a mouse port to their versions.
“The most Chornobyl computer…” When you switch it off and then quickly switch it on again, the cooling fails, the central core overheats and it goes into a meltdown…
In fact, jokes apart... when you see remains of these machines across Jupiter factory, it gives shivers. I mean, when you imagine, what they did with that very hardware, with all its limitations, and all that in a middleof an abandoned city... just think for a moment
В университете на кафедре в 1995 м году была парочка живых таких же. В рабочем процессе уже не использовались, но семижопов в Star Patrol на них погонять можно было.
I know it's probably blasphemous to you, but given how pristine those chips all are, I'd rather see this board get scrapped for parts than stay in its original form. So many of these old machines could find new life through their components being reused in custom builds. You could get more power out of them and interface with old tech bringing outdated paradigms back into reality. As is, these machines stand as beutiful relics to the past. When you first opened it up to show behind the monitor, I think I cried a little bit. But otherwise, they could still go on to be so much more.
The history of all computers is fascinating, we can look at the past and see that new technology is of value because others had try for a very long time to improve things. Watching the children today and the adversity to all technology makes me wonder, how unlucky they really are, I am congratulating you for you're working and for reviving history and memories. because if we don't have a history we do not have the present to enjoy. So, keep doing this kind of education, because is more necessary than people give it credit. 😀💓
Just watched this video as a first from your channel. Interesting content. Curious to see what's coming next. What do you actually study about the phenomenon of Chernobyl? Stay safe!
My gosh what a great channel, remembering old hardware. Moreover, from one computer geek to another, we are kin. And much love from the USA. All support to Ukraine for independence and liberty
Thank you and a lot of love from us! We have regular energy blackouts due to attacks on infrastructure, so cannot upload every week, but next weekend will be something interesting!
This is obviously not a independence and liberty when country regime exists only thankfully USA/NATO credits and military supplies. I understand that in America there is a powerful propaganda machine and you see the only one side of situation, beneficial for the on-war money makers
the modularity of the power supplies is very interesting. can be replaced as one module without dismantling all the cabling inside. fantastic design ! do you have schematics for those boards anywhere ?
Yes, for some yes. Will scan and post on Patreon as soon as we will have stabilized situation - now we do not have energy 5-7 times per day, impossible to work properly((
Not sure whether it is correct to compare IBM and PDP, I believe PDP experts would answer more confident. The 'Beauty' refers more to the fact it came nearly intact over decades.
It's a shame people destroy these old computers just to get a few cents worth of gold plating, which isn't really worth the cost to actually recover. Separating the gold from the base metal usually requires dissolving it in acid and processing the chemicals to precipitate the gold. But this is only cost effective in huge quantities, processing thousands of KG of e-waste to recover a few grams each of gold and other valuable metals. Processing just the few KG of electronics in these computers will only recover what went into them, just a few cents worth of valuable metals. However it will cost many times more than that for the chemicals required to do it.
what we know from a few guys who do this kind of stuff (and who actually try to save really valuable stuff if it gets to their hands), in the case of Soviet electronics made
I'm just find this awesome video about this Soviet-era computer in Ukraine, and it's amazing the differences between this and the industrial American or Japanese computers of these years. I hope you can show us more about this side of computing history!!!! Take my subscription and like!!!! Blessings and greetings from Venezuela!!!! God bless Ukraine!!!! #SlavaUkraini!!!
I wonder if the machine will start because of the graphics card having no ROMs installed. Those will be almost impossible to find. On the other hand, the serial cable being plugged into the graphics card would mean that it just acts as a regular terminal if no graphics were being used -- meaning you could also connect the external terminal and use the machine without graphics. Given that this is a minicomputer platform (which is designed to be multi-user) basically shrunk down into a desktop case that would make sense. The floppy drives and controllers look like they're the regular Shugart-interface type if the ribbon connector on the controller is a 34 pin. Hard drive would probably need its own dedicated MFM or SCSI controller card.
Still need to investigate that. A good thing, that DVKs are good documented and ROMs are available, so if such need will appear we will be able to use some help from friends. As for the HDD, you are totally correct, we need to have a so-called KMD card for it.
@@ChernobylFamily I call them monitors as modern PC monitors, and probably more correct terminology might be a terminal or a display because they displayed text only. That's right.
When I entered to my 5 year college in 1990 I didn't see Fryazino displays in our computer classroom and instead on each PC was a "triangular" black and white display Elektronika, I think, but I don't remember which PC model was. I remember just two 5 inch floppy drives. But next year about 50% of PCs in our classroom were replaced with more sophisticated ones with 3 inch floppy drives and color displays. Robotron printers I didn't remember much, but Japanese EPSONs I do well
Частенько для получения данных запись с компьютера велась на рулонную бумагу. Отец с работы ее приносил, так как она использовалась до конца 2000х. Данные о трагедии были записаны на бумаге. К моменту полной остановки ЧАЭС уже использовались IBM PC.
Michaela's facial expressions @ about 8:00 are priceless. Perfect example of 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Desperately hoping you both remain safe, however long putler's terrorism lasts. As well as, secondarily, your work in the Zone, and preservation of vintage hardware.
So people scavenge the gold connectors. If this is just a passive backplane, maybe it can be recreated from modern components so that some trashed DVK-3's can be brought back from the grave?
Right at the moment cannot say with confidence, but it looks passive. At the same time, the question is the step and dimensions, all these connectors are metrical. So a few attempts of DVK restoration known to us ended with getting this original monster connector.
A classic example of Soviet overengineering. It looks more like it should be fitted in a tank, rather than a science lab. I would love to see that machine booted up, and running software that it was used for at the time.
@@ChernobylFamily BTW, the original version of Tetris was written on another Soviet PDP-11 clone, the Elektronika 60. I wonder if you could run it on this machine as well.
hopefully the more people watch these old computer videos, people will begin to recognize that these are more valuable restored and working, than to be recycled for pennies. someone will find a way to put new hardware in these and have it paralell with the old hardware 🤓
...we have a few vintage machines in the form of cases only with zero perspective of restoring them due to rarity of parts. That said, we are considering making something useful inside while preserving an original look. This won't happen super soon, but this year will come out at least two such projects.
Interesting stuff, I love me a good teardown! All those connectors are interesting in their own way. DIN, a german standard, was it not? And the PCB edge connectors cut at an angle, why are they like that? The beefy power connector was awesome! Saw your link on r/vintagecomputing :)
Well, round DIN connectors were widely used here, though normally for analog signals. As for the shape of the board connectors - we believe to make its insertion easier
@@ChernobylFamily I'm sure you are correct that the angled connectors make insertion easier - I've never seen that before, but it is a very clever design!
Haha! Yeah, that there is an old specimen of a computer. Back when I was a kid, dad got an IBM Personal Computer 3270 AT in 85. Man, that was AWESOME. sitting and playing Pac-Man on it! 😎😎
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Ok, 100K views reached - time to bring a Soviet PDP-11 rack out of our shed :)
Fun fact: you can see the 15ИЭ-00-013 terminals onboard of the Solaris orbital station in Andrey Tarkovsky timeless classic movie “Solaris”, together with a bunch of various recognizable 60s-70s Soviet lab test equipment such as millivoltmeters, signal generators, vacuum gauges and oscilloscopes.
This terminal gives me a strong "space" feeling as well. Thank you for pointing, somehow forgot about this fact)
These 15ИЭ-00- ....Fryazino displays had been on TV news every day at 9 00PM because somewhere was a grand opening event of a new data center or an IT site.
I have been trying to find content on youtube like this for over ten years. I love learning about soviet computers. Thanks for granting my wish!
Thank you so much! There will be much more :)
Khaki shade powder coated connector is a 'cannon' type, so called soviet clone a SB or something like that. In 1923 James Cannon developed the M plug and revolutionized electronics industry and turned the "Cannon plug" into a generic name. Then in 1927 Douglas Aircraft Co. began to use 'cannons' in avionics. Nowadays ITT Corp. producing them, I personally familiar with product from GlenAire and AB Connectors 'cannons'.
I was thinking it is a clone of Bendix.
The main chip on the graphics card (shown clearly at 12:15) is a KM1801BM2, which is the 40 pin version of the CPU (smaller address bus). So I suspect someone else's comment about missing ROMs might be accurate, unless the firmware for this board is run out of RAM.
"Fun" fact (for small levels of fun). The reason for the unusual socket for the main CPU is that its pin spacing is only 2.5 mm wide, not the standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) pitch.
Can we all just stop for a moment and think about how amazing this video is. 2 Ukrainians are teaching us about a Soviet PDP clone, using a technology designed in the 60s, and served to us by a Dude from CERN...
Although there are some incorrect facts, thank you for such words)))))))) things are slightly more complex out here ;)
lady sounds lot more Slovak than Ukrainian...
@@whiskeysk because she is Slovak living in Ukraine :)
ДВК НЕ!!!! клон PDP 11.
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🐞
The graphic was not so obsolete that i thought, with most ( all ?) Of electronics, chips, plugs seeming 100% local production. Amazing and surprising
Well, we did not try this very machine in action yet, but from what we have seen before, you are right.
I used to run a PDP-11/34 which I upgraded to 11/44 standard with a Nissho board. Programmed mostly in Macro-11, some Fortran IV (couldn't find the money for the Fortran 77 compiler) and a tiny bit of C (using that public domain compiler). Apart from my ATC-related programming I remember doing a "snake" game for VT-100 (using escape sequences), two adjacent terminals woiuld fight on the screen of one (but using both keyboards), the winner was he whose snake managed to encircle the other one and cause it to crash into a wall (or a snake). Good times.
Thank you for this awesome story!
I recall doing machine language programming using Macro-11 - then DEC introduced BLISS with the phrase “ignorance is Bliss” it almost won over the C programming language at one point in time
Мне приходилось программировать на этой машине и не только программировать, но и ремонтировать. Дома была аналогичная на 1801ВМ3 с двумя жесткими дисками и двумя дисководами, принтер был Robotron производства ГДР. Программы писал на "С", использовали графику КЦГД под программным движком KEYGP. Даже был свой графический редактор разработанный в городе Зеленоград на заводе "Квант". Кстати "Квант" их и выпускал. Будучи радиолюбителем на этой машине принимал радиотелетайп RTTY и радиофакс FAX. Интересное было время.
Thanks for an awesome story!
@@ChernobylFamily У компьютеров ДВК изначально была плата не способная выдавать графику. К ней можно было подключать плату размером 1/2 и она позволяла отображать не только символы, но и графику. Название уже не помню.
Позже появилась плата КЦГД (контроллер цифро-графического дисплея) Эта плата уже могла работать с графикой и даже с цветом (!). Но для полноценной работы нужна была программная поддержка. Было несколько таких программных движков, но самым хорошим была программа KEYGP. Это была разработка программистов завода Квант.
К ДВК выпускалась еще плана на сопроцессоре К1801ВМ4. Насколько помню это была плата для вычислений Фурье.
@@SuperEnergy2012 изначально у ДВК2 был аналог VT52 (или VT100). Если посмотреть на их картинки внимательно, то можно заметить, что у них была 25ая строка с аппаратно выводимым туда состоянием интерфейса ввода/вывода (вроде скорость порта, какие-то служебные биты, диагностика и что-то ещё вроде времени))
когда учился в универе в нашей лабе познакомился с эмулятором этой машины, даже прогу простую написал. очень просто программируется и работает.
Amazing to see! Thanks so much for putting this content up, it’s much appreciated! Sad that these computers are so increasingly rare.
Hopefully soon it will be up and running!
Glad to meet you both and "the little engineer"...
Those Amphenol type (military connectors) ensure you could swing the terminal over your head USING THE CABLE!!
Engineer is meowing you greetings! Michaela is crying laughing about your note regarding a cable...) that was a good one!
Моя юность, на заводе "Радио Прибор". Помню эту машину в отделе "поверки и калибровки", если правильно помню название. Обычно они возились с атомными часами, машина у них для чего то использовалась но для чего уже не помню. Спасибо за подробный рассказ и демонстрацию "содержимого". Удивлен что эти машины еще не попали в лапы афинажников.
дякуємо!
She’s very stacked I want to see more
It can cause stack overflow! :)
As an Indian nuclear enthusiast I am pretty much satisfied of the video .. this is what exactly I was looking for... Thanks
Thank you!!!
Great Video. The PDP-11 was a very popular system used in the Nuclear Industry. I remember reading a few years ago that at least one Canadian Nuclear Power Plant still uses them today.
PDP-11 was the best thing in computing for many years, it’s only because of the rise of the personal computing market (and bad corporate decisions) that the platform and its successors died out. Without these machines though the infrastructure the modern world runs on may never have come to be.
Thank you both for your comments. We so far are not that good in this platform (though we know much about its use here), need to learn more about the hardware in general. But it is an amazing journey!
@@Underestimated37 I only know of the PDP series historically. I have a little experience operating VMS on the VAX and Alpha systems that followed it. Knowing that some of the US military systems not that long ago still used 8" floppy disks, I'm not shocked a nuclear plant still uses PDPs, but it's certainly technical debt at this point (and even long ago).
@@jasonhaman4670 often systems like this are preferred as they’re so obsolete that malicious outsiders can’t interfere with them, and the programming languages are dead or obscure. As long as the machine performs its core tasks, it can often be left in place until end of life. The other good thing was they’re often from an era where specialized parts aren’t needed either.
@@Underestimated37 I work in industrial IT... security by obsolescense or obscurity is a thing, but it's risky. Now, if it's truly isolated, then sure, as long as they can maintain a team that fully understands the system and is able to maintain it, sure. But as the decades pass, that becomes move of a challenge.
Wow, it's amazing you're able to keep this classic technology alive so everyone can see their history in action!
Thank you, my friend! If you want to support us in our tech adventures, join us on Patreon (we have cookies!)
This was genuinely interesting! In Sweden the PDP-11 seem to be one of the more popular ones, but i had never seen this version before, it's awesome You finally managed to get one!
Thank you! More to come!
About graphics card. It may seem weird from a modern standpoint, but back then it was quite common for seemingly unrelated functions to be placed on the same daughter board or even in one chip, especially if both of those functions were essential. It was made just to save some space and money in production. This way of designing was likely just adopted by the engineers who were reverse-engineering those old systems.
Thank you! The thing is, there exists a separate controller called KTLK for the telegraph channel, though your idea seems to be very very possible (it is enough to remember the floppy controller for ES 1841 that hosts a mouse). Therefore we asked that question
And nowadays they make entire systems onto same small board, or.. chip ;)
@@TheSimoc yeah...)
The very basic setup of the DVK-3 reminds me of the Tandy TRS-80 all-in-one-units, where the logic boards were installed in a backplane behind the CRT. The DVK-3 is a quirky, but beautiful machine. I'd love to spend some time with one and learn its secrets!
Thank you for the insight, it is interesting! Well, wait for new episodes!
Some of the chips are beautiful
Yes, true
Thank you. This is a very interesting video - to see how others interpret current technology is always an eye-opener !
Thank you!
I loved the PDP-11 series of micro computers.
Seems we understand why :)
As the owner of a few PDP-11s and a VAX 11/730 - I really enjoyed this video ! Thank you!
Oh, thank you!
I remember using 11/780s and 11/750s running BSD Unix - it’s amazing how many users those systems could support
i am very amused -- but first thanks for your good english (i'm german),,, 100% ok to understand...
you described a russian pdp11-clone (oh that's high-tech,,,) -- in the 1980s i had access to an oroginal dec-pdp11/2,,, that was 5 times the hardware you had shown,,, -- the floppy-formatter-board (including 2 x 8inch floppy drives was bigger than the drives together (bake-oven-size 1mx0,5m) --- only the floppy controller,,,
oh wow,,, but it worked with rt11 (original dec-runtime-os 11) and add on was rt11-basic. --> a 2m wide documentation in us-legal 12inch folders,,, -- in today's 2022 you can be happy to get a "quick-start" page (printed on real paper if...) or only a littele "readme.txt" on the disc -- if even delivered???
i did not come over yet, to subscribe your channel,,, that's "history",,, really -- thanks for...
You are warmly welcome! Vielen dank!
What a beauty! Looks like you could hit it with a hammer... and ruin the hammer. Just discovered your channel . It's awesome. I've been curious about soviet era computers since I heard of Sinclair clones, so this is a treasure. I loved the joke about big soviet chips, but Motorola 68000, for example, was big enough to take a nap on top of it.
Glad that you liked! Check other episodes as well, and a new will be out today!
Interesting how this uses the K(M)1801VM3, which is an improvement over the K(R)1801VM1 used in the BK homecomputers of the UDSSR.
All the best for the repair/restoration!
Thank you! There will be much more
BK lacked the multiplication and division instructions.
ДВК! WOW! A time machine!
True!
@@ChernobylFamily By the way we are recreating other soviet PDP-compatible machine Союз-Неон ПК-11/16
Super video! I have heard but know very little about the PDP-11 clones...
Glad that you liked! More to come!
Wow, suggestions worked for once. Never seen or heard of this computer before, I'm fascinated.
Welcome! Check our previous episodes as well...)
Oh, i used to program the dvk2 when i was a student! Nostalgia:))))))
Glad to help!
wow, this channel is a gem! you guys deserves soo much views. proudly subscribed.
Thank you so much:)
Excellent video and channel. Subscribed and hello from Canada
Cheers!
I love old machines like this, and I gotta say seeing this pop up in my suggested had me ecstatic! Subbed, I look forward to your future content!
We are so happy to hear that! Check the other episodes...)
@@ChernobylFamily As soon as this video finishes I plan on it! Thank you for documenting these old machines, being from the US I know very little about them and love seeing content on them. Keep up the fantastic work :-D
We will! Join us on Patreon if you wish to have longer episodes and bonus content - some things are only there :)
@@ChernobylFamily Will do!
Oh snap! I finally figured the origin of it, the keypad seen @ 7:08 ! Have it around for a real while but never remembered where it is from. A really fascinating thing it is, as the buttons are actually magnetic, each packed with a Hall sensor IC (yes, not even a Reed switch). The top one feeds an output buffer directly (yes, this pad has a buffer IC), the other two control the T-triggers on the keypad board to both drive the other two buffers and the corresponding LEDs. The only thing but the IC power (along with the mains LED) and the buffer outputs routed to the pin header of this thing are the pins of the failure red LED routed directly, guess there is something behind this solution.
Yes! And that keyboard consumes energy like hell.
@@ChernobylFamily Lol yeah, I never really measured though I estimate somewhat 20 mA per LED, those are kinda old, - and two TTL ICs (triggers and buffer array)... Pretty much like a Bluetooth, not even BLE, complete keyboard )) Though those Hall keys are something, guess their lifespan is the closest to infinite a button may ever get. Won't mind an ESD receiver shield though, but doubt something made almost completely from plastic has a high chance of flashing over, especially with the metal plate around.
Amazing channel!
Yes, we are :) Thank you!
I have always been curious about those teams that are absolutely unknown by the public in my country, Argentina.At that time I began to learn at home with the Sinclair 1500. Very Interesting good job and thanks.
Thank you! Welcome to our little project!
Great Video, sadly we do not have many Canadian computer manufacturers. Love your channel!
Friends from Canada
Thank you, Matthew! Well, we here in Ukraine are also not very good with this anymore...)
My VIC-20 was made in Canada!
Awesome, guys!
Thank you!
This is such wonderful stuff. Thanks for all your efforts and I look forward to seeing a lot more of your old tech adventures!
Thank you, there will be more!
I admire you, going to a nuclear zone for PC. And have an effort to repair
Well, we go to the zone qlready a decade and regularly. However, this and other machines do not originate from there, these are identical types. Soviet computers in the Zone are beyond repair.
I started my computing career on a PDP-90 followed by a PDP-11 followed by an Intel MPW. The Intel Microprocessor Workstation was interesting because it was programmed by 'flipping' bits in an on-screen display. The screen was divided into blocks of sixteen 'bits' - if you got one wrong you didn't find out until the compiler had completed some two hours or so later and you had programmed the EPROM. Not EEPROM - if you had got it wrong the very expensive EPROM was scrap.
Thank you for sharing!
It looks like a Cisco Catalyst module board for enterprise switches.
Hm, actually yes!
In order to obtain the certification upon electrical safety qualification necessary to study 3 (three) different codes, related to: 1) electrical safety [ПТБ], 2) technical operation of electrical installation [ПТЭ], 3) electrical installation [ПУЭ]. I've done that, when I'd been hired by city power company.
Only 30 years? I got to play Lunar Lander on their PDP-11 at the Air Force Academy roughly 50 years ago. :)
BTW, Soviet era electronics are pretty cool. I've got a couple of VEF-Spidola-6 radios as well as a Okean-222. And a number (an inexplicably large number) of MK-52 calcs as well as other Elektronika calculators (desk and handheld).
Tha k you for the story! Eh, Spidola-6 we had back home up to mid 90-s...
Wow, these devices are amazing! Thanks for showing. :)
You are welcome! Here will be much more, and if you want to get bonus content/full versions - check our Patreon.
I never seen anything like this. Wish you all the best
Thank you! Check other our videos, there is more :)
Fascinating and informative. Tnx. Greetings from Alabama USA
Thank you! Greetings from the border of Chernobyl!
these boards full of really nice and odd chips are pure joy for CPU collectors. Staggered "spider" chips (presumably glue logic/chipset here?) are somewhat rare in western tech for starter, but this enormous 64 pins custom size white ceramic packaged CPU is a fantastic sight to behold. It would have cost a fortune to manufacture!
...same a fortune would cost this machine.
I love your little engineer so much 😻😻
Meow!
What a fascinating piece of computing history!
Thank you!
Loved the tour. I think there's a house of nerds in Texas that will want to see this. Looks like a very respectable machine. Good quality components for the era. I'll have to read more about that CPU, it's performance was impressive for any microcomputer in the era.
Thank you! Yes, it is lovely, but it is so big - it is very long, barely fits on our table by depth.
гарна дівчина
Сам в шоці!
Wow cool channel - love retro computers and tech.
Welcome!
You guys are feeding a hunger I've had for decades. This is really cool stuff.
...and we even did now start our Chernobyl cooking show we are planning ;)
Super interesting, thanks a lot!
You are warmly welcome. BTW, soon here will be DDR-made computers as well.
That thing is a huge beast.
Yes. And heavy.
Wow I wanted to know more about this for ages ! DVK is neat !
Will be more, much more :)
@@ChernobylFamily In some ways, this seems to be a better "desktop conversion" / transition from minicomputer to microcomputer than DEC's own Professional 325/350/380 series !
I don't know about that but the IBM PC had combined video and printer boards and some third part video card manufacturers added also a mouse port to their versions.
Well, right... maybe this is the case as well. Will figure it out before the next episode is out..)
Thank you. Great content!
Thank you! There will be much more, about this and other machines too :)
Thank you for the nice information! Interesting! From a distance it looks like an IBM🙂
This is a little unexpected comparison! Thank you! Stay tuned!
you're getting close to that hundred thousand views you asked for in the video :D
I already forgot about that :))
“The most Chornobyl computer…”
When you switch it off and then quickly switch it on again, the cooling fails, the central core overheats and it goes into a meltdown…
In fact, jokes apart... when you see remains of these machines across Jupiter factory, it gives shivers. I mean, when you imagine, what they did with that very hardware, with all its limitations, and all that in a middleof an abandoned city... just think for a moment
Super cool!
Thank you!
В университете на кафедре в 1995 м году была парочка живых таких же. В рабочем процессе уже не использовались, но семижопов в Star Patrol на них погонять можно было.
Thanks for sharing!
Напомнило "Занимательные флаги" из Теории Большого взрыва. Действительно интересно. Так держать!)
Дякуємо!
Nice video 👍
Thank you!
Cheers from New Zealand.
Greetings from Ukraine!
I know it's probably blasphemous to you, but given how pristine those chips all are, I'd rather see this board get scrapped for parts than stay in its original form.
So many of these old machines could find new life through their components being reused in custom builds. You could get more power out of them and interface with old tech bringing outdated paradigms back into reality.
As is, these machines stand as beutiful relics to the past. When you first opened it up to show behind the monitor, I think I cried a little bit. But otherwise, they could still go on to be so much more.
What an amazing channel, thank you algorithm for showing me this.
I hope my like and this comment help the propagation!
You are warmly welcome here!
Very interesting ) Привет с Молдовы.
Thanks! Greetings from Chornobyl!
Nice video.
Thank you!
The history of all computers is fascinating, we can look at the past and see that new technology is of value because others had try for a very long time to improve things. Watching the children today and the adversity to all technology makes me wonder, how unlucky they really are, I am congratulating you for you're working and for reviving history and memories. because if we don't have a history we do not have the present to enjoy. So, keep doing this kind of education, because is more necessary than people give it credit. 😀💓
Thank you for such words! We will try to do our best!
Very interesting. Best wishes to you...
Thank you, dear friend!
Estamos aqui do Brasil também assistindo, 😊
WOW! Obrigado!
Hello, I liked your TH-cam channel, I started to subscribe
Thank you!
Back when computers are designed like tanks
True
Just watched this video as a first from your channel. Interesting content. Curious to see what's coming next. What do you actually study about the phenomenon of Chernobyl? Stay safe!
We work here since 2009 and 2011 respectively, and live straight at its border...) Next will be interesting...)
Cool computer!
Thank you!
My gosh what a great channel, remembering old hardware. Moreover, from one computer geek to another, we are kin. And much love from the USA. All support to Ukraine for independence and liberty
Thank you and a lot of love from us! We have regular energy blackouts due to attacks on infrastructure, so cannot upload every week, but next weekend will be something interesting!
This is obviously not a independence and liberty when country regime exists only thankfully USA/NATO credits and military supplies. I understand that in America there is a powerful propaganda machine and you see the only one side of situation, beneficial for the on-war money makers
But channel obviously very interesting, thank you for the information and respect to the history of soviet electronics industry
the modularity of the power supplies is very interesting. can be replaced as one module without dismantling all the cabling inside. fantastic design !
do you have schematics for those boards anywhere ?
Yes, for some yes. Will scan and post on Patreon as soon as we will have stabilized situation - now we do not have energy 5-7 times per day, impossible to work properly((
@@AmauryJacquot *sad smile*
Nice video :)
Looks like alien isolation equipment:)
This is an epic association, must say:)
that ascii art map it produced is epic!
YESSsss
@@ChernobylFamily слава україні!
@@ame7165 героям слава!
if its a beauty i don't thinks so and probably was 100 years behind ibm system from that era!
Not sure whether it is correct to compare IBM and PDP, I believe PDP experts would answer more confident. The 'Beauty' refers more to the fact it came nearly intact over decades.
It's a shame people destroy these old computers just to get a few cents worth of gold plating, which isn't really worth the cost to actually recover.
Separating the gold from the base metal usually requires dissolving it in acid and processing the chemicals to precipitate the gold. But this is only cost effective in huge quantities, processing thousands of KG of e-waste to recover a few grams each of gold and other valuable metals. Processing just the few KG of electronics in these computers will only recover what went into them, just a few cents worth of valuable metals. However it will cost many times more than that for the chemicals required to do it.
what we know from a few guys who do this kind of stuff (and who actually try to save really valuable stuff if it gets to their hands), in the case of Soviet electronics made
I'm just find this awesome video about this Soviet-era computer in Ukraine, and it's amazing the differences between this and the industrial American or Japanese computers of these years. I hope you can show us more about this side of computing history!!!! Take my subscription and like!!!!
Blessings and greetings from Venezuela!!!! God bless Ukraine!!!! #SlavaUkraini!!!
Thank you for your warm words and stay tuned, there will be much more!
I wonder if the machine will start because of the graphics card having no ROMs installed. Those will be almost impossible to find. On the other hand, the serial cable being plugged into the graphics card would mean that it just acts as a regular terminal if no graphics were being used -- meaning you could also connect the external terminal and use the machine without graphics. Given that this is a minicomputer platform (which is designed to be multi-user) basically shrunk down into a desktop case that would make sense.
The floppy drives and controllers look like they're the regular Shugart-interface type if the ribbon connector on the controller is a 34 pin. Hard drive would probably need its own dedicated MFM or SCSI controller card.
Still need to investigate that. A good thing, that DVKs are good documented and ROMs are available, so if such need will appear we will be able to use some help from friends. As for the HDD, you are totally correct, we need to have a so-called KMD card for it.
Very good material, Amiga, Atari, Commodore 64, that was too good historical examples
Thank you!
Very familiar monitor, had seen it on many photos in the past.
You mean Fryazino terminal? That's true, a very widespread thing. Very.
@@ChernobylFamily I didn't know exact model name but it was on everyday TV newsreels showing IT centers around the country.
Hm... it is interesting as these monitors are for text only... well, yes, at datacenters these surely will be.
@@ChernobylFamily I call them monitors as modern PC monitors, and probably more correct terminology might be a terminal or a display because they displayed text only. That's right.
When I entered to my 5 year college in 1990 I didn't see Fryazino displays in our computer classroom and instead on each PC was a "triangular" black and white display Elektronika, I think, but I don't remember which PC model was. I remember just two 5 inch floppy drives. But next year about 50% of PCs in our classroom were replaced with more sophisticated ones with 3 inch floppy drives and color displays. Robotron printers I didn't remember much, but Japanese EPSONs I do well
Частенько для получения данных запись с компьютера велась на рулонную бумагу. Отец с работы ее приносил, так как она использовалась до конца 2000х. Данные о трагедии были записаны на бумаге. К моменту полной остановки ЧАЭС уже использовались IBM PC.
В каком цеху отец работал, если не секрет?
Ну, и должны сказать, в планах есть собрать ДРЭГ, потому бумагой мы запаслись :)
Amazing 🤩
Thank you!
Michaela's facial expressions @ about 8:00 are priceless. Perfect example of 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Desperately hoping you both remain safe, however long putler's terrorism lasts. As well as, secondarily, your work in the Zone, and preservation of vintage hardware.
Haha, yes, she is known for these :) Thank you for everything!
@@ChernobylFamily You are both amazing. Thank you for everything you do!
Someday, when this terror is over, I hope to visit Ukraine and meet you. Слава Україні!
@@jasonhaman4670 please do it!
So people scavenge the gold connectors. If this is just a passive backplane, maybe it can be recreated from modern components so that some trashed DVK-3's can be brought back from the grave?
Right at the moment cannot say with confidence, but it looks passive. At the same time, the question is the step and dimensions, all these connectors are metrical. So a few attempts of DVK restoration known to us ended with getting this original monster connector.
A classic example of Soviet overengineering. It looks more like it should be fitted in a tank, rather than a science lab. I would love to see that machine booted up, and running software that it was used for at the time.
We will work on it, that will take a time, but you will have it here! Bonus content and backstage will be on Patreon. Stay tuned!
@@ChernobylFamily BTW, the original version of Tetris was written on another Soviet PDP-11 clone, the Elektronika 60. I wonder if you could run it on this machine as well.
@@kemi242 we have it in warehouse, so consider... yes, at some point ;)
I was following the opening scene… until they changed the words from “Fun with Flags” !!
Lol
The funniest thing we never had idea to cosplay Sheldon & co at all, this is just how we are in a life)))
Nerdy and awesome! Perfect XD
hopefully the more people watch these old computer videos, people will begin to recognize that these are more valuable restored and working, than to be recycled for pennies.
someone will find a way to put new hardware in these and have it paralell with the old hardware 🤓
...we have a few vintage machines in the form of cases only with zero perspective of restoring them due to rarity of parts. That said, we are considering making something useful inside while preserving an original look. This won't happen super soon, but this year will come out at least two such projects.
Interesting stuff, I love me a good teardown! All those connectors are interesting in their own way. DIN, a german standard, was it not? And the PCB edge connectors cut at an angle, why are they like that? The beefy power connector was awesome! Saw your link on r/vintagecomputing :)
Well, round DIN connectors were widely used here, though normally for analog signals. As for the shape of the board connectors - we believe to make its insertion easier
@@ChernobylFamily I'm sure you are correct that the angled connectors make insertion easier - I've never seen that before, but it is a very clever design!
The mouse is an authentic T-34! 😲
:D
Haha! Yeah, that there is an old specimen of a computer. Back when I was a kid, dad got an IBM Personal Computer 3270 AT in 85. Man, that was AWESOME. sitting and playing Pac-Man on it! 😎😎
Thank you for your memories!
@@ChernobylFamily You guys are welcome. Stay safe the both of you! ❤from Sweden.
Hi! Can you run some dos benchmarks on the previous machine?
We actually did it - check th-cam.com/video/PUwWYX7_GKA/w-d-xo.html from 11th minute