Soviet Saratov-2, only known surviving PDP/8 clone discovered

[Andrew Yeomans]

From https://hackaday.com/2020/11/30/urban-explorers-reveal-a-treasure-trove-of-soviet-computing-power/

It’s probably a dream most of us share, to stumble upon a dusty hall full of fascinating abandoned tech frozen in time as though its operators walked away one day and simply never returned. It’s something documented by some Russian urban explorers who found an unremarkable office building with one of its floors frozen sometime around the transition from Soviet Union to Russian Federation. In it they found their abandoned tech, in the form of a cross-section of Soviet-era computers form the 1970s onwards.

As you might expect, in a manner it mirrors the development of civilian computing on the capitalist side of the Iron Curtain over a similar period, starting with minicomputers the size of several large refrigerators and ending with desktop microcomputers. The minis seem to all be Soviet clones of contemporary DEC machines. with some parts of them even looking vaguely familiar. The oldest is a Saratov-2, a PDP/8 clone which we’re told is rare enough for no examples to have been believed to have survived until this discovery. We then see a succession of PDP/11 clones each of which becomes ever smaller with advancements in semiconductor integration, starting with the fridge-sized units and eventually ending up with desktop versions that resemble 1980s PCs.

[Oscar Vermeulen]

Nice!

The LCM in Seattle actually has a Saratov 2 - or, I remember seeing at least its front panel there. There are some interesting Hungarian PDP-8 clones as well, but I don't know if any of them survive.

Kind regards,

Oscar.

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[Tony Aiuto]

I picked up this core plane on EBay a few years ago.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMU6i4XjUa7P_eyteuf74BTcPJTDRq2mqrZfuHkMoZB0jbc1CweDvkuWqt1SpPbpA?key=ZDl0M25fT285NDdUakNFVHd4MXk5U09aQXdRWlJ3

It says it is from a Saratov 2, but I really have no idea. It is a 4096 bit plane, so that could be part of a stack of 12, but it does not look like any photos of PDP-8 memory I have found. Does anyone out there definitively know what the core planes in the DEC or Saratov machines looked like (for various models of each)?

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-8/CAJAwMc3Fevo%3DyOsDwJqzqZe1yrdAEezqs7mdZz9WmZy34nkMpA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mike Katz]

Front side of an MM8E H220 4096 x 12 bit core plain out of a PDP-8/E.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-8/CAKGyVsWPcH6RExExnAnUyV1asviwayhOT2ojrVmM4wnJ5tS_bA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Mike Katz]

Back side of MM8E H220 4096 x 12 bit core plain out of a PDP-8/E.

On 12/1/2020 9:37 AM, Tony Aiuto wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-8/CAKGyVsWPcH6RExExnAnUyV1asviwayhOT2ojrVmM4wnJ5tS_bA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Obsolescence]

Here's perhaps the best-preserved Saratov-2, revived with simh by Alexander in Russia. He does not have a Google account, so I asked him if I could post his pictures myself. I think both the pictures and the project are important to post for future reference... I have Alexander's email if you want to contact him.