computer science

History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries

History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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. This redevelopment led to some incompatibilities with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and IEEE standards, such as spacing integrated circuit pins at 1⁄10 of a 25 mm length (colloquially a "metric inch") instead of a standard inch of 25.4 mm. This made Soviet chips unsellable on the world market outside the Comecon, and made test machinery more expensive.

History

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. 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. Computer design and production began to be coordinated between the Comecon countries in 1964, when the Edinaya Sistema mainframe (Unified System, ES, also known as RIAD) was introduced. The project also included plans for the development of a joint Comecon computer network. 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. The ES-1040 was successfully exported to countries outside the Comecon, including India, Yugoslavia and China. 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. Nairi-3, developed at the Armenian Institute for Computers, was the first third-generation computer in the Comecon area, using integrated circuits. Development on the Nairi system began in 1964, and it went into serial production in 1969. In 1969 the Intergovernmental Commission for Computer Technology was founded to coordinate computer production. Other cooperation initiatives included the establishment of joint Comecon development facilities in Moscow and Kiev. The 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. The relative success of Robotron was attributed to its greater organizational freedom, and the profit motive of securing export orders. In 1970, Cuba produced its first digital computer, the CID-201. By 1972 the Comecon countries had produced around 7,500 computers, compared to 120,000 in the rest of the world. The USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania had all set up computer production and research institutes. Collaboration between Romania and the other countries was limited, due to the autarkic policies of Nicolae Ceaușescu. 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. Non-Soviet Eastern European countries had more access to Western technology, which allowed them to manufacture more sophisticated computer equipment. 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. 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. The document planned the development of the IT industry in socialist countries up to the year 2010. In 1985 Ukrainian researchers managed to reverse-engineer the ZX Spectrum chip and built a hardware clone using readily available parts. Over 50 different versions of the Spectrum were created in Eastern Bloc countries over the next few years, including the Hobbit, Baltica, Pentagon, Scorpion, Leningrad, Didaktik (Czechoslovakia), Spectral (East Germany) and Cobra (Romania).

In 1985 the computer industry of Bulgaria exported computer hardware to over 20 countries, manufacturing personal computers, word processing terminals and memory tapes and disks. At its peak, the country provided 40% of computers in the Comecon area. 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. Tens of thousands of IT scientists and engineers migrated to Western Europe for employment, not always in fields related to their expertise.

Unified System project

ES EVM (ЕС ЭВМ, Единая система электронных вычислительных машин, meaning "Unified System of Electronic Computers") was a series of 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. Initially announced as a Soviet venture in 1967, in 1969 it became an international project, involving Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland. Romania and Cuba joined the project in 1973. The first models entered serial production in 1972. According to CIA sources, by 1975 the Comecon countries had managed to build only 10% to 15% of the anticipated number of ES computers. Production continued until 1995. 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.

Small Machines System project

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries

In research: History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Comecon, Eastern Bloc, History of computing hardware, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries in simple terms?

Why does History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of computer hardware in Eastern Bloc countries.