Author Topic: Teardown of an old Soviet made PC. (Read 12555 times)

Refrigerator · « **on:** March 21, 2014, 02:59:22 pm »

Hello, i've found this old Made in USSR PC and thought it would be fun to tear ir apart.

There was also a 260 page book with it.

And there was a series of pages dedicated to programming this PC to draw the soviet symbol.

Sadly, i don't have the power supply for it so i can't test this thing.
After taking all the screws from the rear and opening it this is what i saw.

The main board actually has four layers ! ( that's not including bodge wires )

I almost instantly spotted this weird bodge (?) chip glued on top of another chip.

This seems like it was pretty good at it's time, even the bodge wires on the bottom board are glued on.

Right next to the weird bodge chip there is a couple of UV eraseable EEPROM and a chip which has CPU marked on it.

On the other side of the main board there are a few heatsunk chips and alot on wire wound resistors.

This PC was made in 1991 04 and for it's time it seems like it was a pretty nice machine for it's time.
I gonna look around to find out the voltages needed to power this thing up and maybe test it.

lpc32 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2014, 03:21:34 pm »

I like the Soviet BASIC.

Looks satirical.

Bored@Work · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2014, 03:22:39 pm »

Technically one would call this a home computer not a PC. It could be one of the many Sinclair spectrum clones produced in the USSR.

The 80A-CPU is a Zilog Z80A CPU ripoff. Stolen with socialistic pride by VEB Mikroelektronik Karl Marx Erfurt of the former GDR.

free_electron · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2014, 03:33:29 pm »

How many arrow keys do you need ?

dexters_lab · « **Reply #4 on:** March 21, 2014, 03:41:59 pm »

nice :+:

is it operational?

Bored@Work · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2014, 03:45:50 pm »

It is indeed a Spectrum clone called Byte / bayt. Many made, in the city of Brest in Belarus, but these days supposed to be rare. http://zxbyte.ru/index_en.htm

TiN · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2014, 05:02:16 pm »

Cool

Also PCB seem to be 8 layer, there is marking on corner (digits 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 on each layer)

SeanB · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2014, 05:07:29 pm »

They cloned the ULA? or built it out of discrete logic, though with the heatsinked chips it is likely they did the logic inside a few custom chips.

Bored@Work · « **Reply #8 on:** March 21, 2014, 07:49:05 pm »

Quote from: SeanB on March 21, 2014, 05:07:29 pm

They cloned the ULA? or built it out of discrete logic, though with the heatsinked chips it is likely they did the logic inside a few custom chips.

You can try your luck with the schematics to figure out how they did it http://zxbyte.ru/doc/byte_scheme.zip

Bored@Work · « **Reply #9 on:** March 21, 2014, 07:58:29 pm »

Quote from: Refrigerator on March 21, 2014, 02:59:22 pm

I gonna look around to find out the voltages needed to power this thing up and maybe test it.

+5 V and +12 V according to the site I referenced a few times.

pickle9000 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 21, 2014, 08:03:35 pm »

That is an awesome find, as Dave would say "A of thing beauty and a joy forever". Congratulations.

Vgkid · « **Reply #11 on:** March 21, 2014, 10:11:53 pm »

Thanks for the teardown.

Shock · « **Reply #12 on:** March 22, 2014, 12:31:57 am »

Quote from: free_electron on March 21, 2014, 03:33:29 pm

How many arrow keys do you need ?

In Russia the arrow keys move you.

GeoffS · « **Reply #13 on:** March 22, 2014, 01:34:50 am »

Quote from: free_electron on March 21, 2014, 03:33:29 pm

How many arrow keys do you need ?

Only a left key, moving to the right was frowned upon.

xtv · « **Reply #14 on:** March 22, 2014, 03:02:01 am »

Pretty interesting piece of hardware!
Shame on you not having a psu to try powering it on..

That glued chip.. Soviets were already using package on package (pop) technology that time

calin · « **Reply #15 on:** March 22, 2014, 03:24:05 am »

Hey, i learned to program on a similar machine ... This one: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=632&st=1

Yes you can poke fun @ them but these machines have created many good engineers at got lots of kids (including me) into the world of electronics and IT.

So clone .. no clone .. soviet bla bla .. It was actually a good thing

Refrigerator · « **Reply #16 on:** March 22, 2014, 05:34:19 am »

I couldn't find the pinout of the PSU connector. It doesn't seem like this thing was used, there are two arrow keys and a unmarked key that seem to have wear on them, i suspect this was only used for playing games.

pickle9000 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 22, 2014, 05:47:36 am »

Quote from: Refrigerator on March 22, 2014, 05:34:19 am

I couldn't find the pinout of the PSU connector. It doesn't seem like this thing was used, there are two arrow keys and a unmarked key that seem to have wear on them, i suspect this was only used for playing games.

Take a pic, connector back, top, bottom.

Refrigerator · « **Reply #18 on:** March 22, 2014, 08:41:11 am »

Here's the connector.

I expect two of the center pins to be GND.

Bored@Work · « **Reply #19 on:** March 22, 2014, 09:11:16 am »

Quote from: Refrigerator on March 22, 2014, 05:34:19 am

I couldn't find the pinout of the PSU connector. It doesn't seem like this thing was used, there are two arrow keys and a unmarked key that seem to have wear on them, i suspect this was only used for playing games.

On the site I now referenced multiple times

http://zxbyte.ru/byte5.htm
http://zxbyte.ru/doc/bp_old.zip
http://zxbyte.ru/doc/byte_scheme.zip

Bored@Work · « **Reply #20 on:** March 22, 2014, 09:40:16 am »

Quote from: calin on March 22, 2014, 03:24:05 am

Yes you can poke fun @ them but these machines have created many good engineers at got lots of kids (including me) into the world of electronics and IT.

So clone .. no clone .. soviet bla bla .. It was actually a good thing

Mostly we are having fun looking at that old stuff. And yes, we are also poking a tiny bit of fun at it.

Don't you find it ironic and funny that the self-proclaimed superior socialistic/communistic system needed to clone, copy and steal the technology of the despised western imperialistic pigs and class enemies? Instead of coming up with something on their own? Something which by their own ideological argumentation could only be vastly superior to anything from the West. I could now link that pst propaganda and behavior to current Russian political events, where they do all kinds of funny things to proof their superiority and cover up their questionable behavior. But we aren't supposed to discuss politics here, so I leave it at that.

Refrigerator · « **Reply #21 on:** March 22, 2014, 11:39:57 am »

I've tried looking through that site but must've missed the part about connecting the power supply. ( I don't speak russian )

andtfoot · « **Reply #22 on:** March 22, 2014, 12:15:49 pm »

Quote from: Refrigerator on March 22, 2014, 11:39:57 am

I've tried looking through that site but must've missed the part about connecting the power supply. ( I don't speak russian )

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzxbyte.ru%2Fbyte5.htm&act=url

Towards the end it shows using an AT or ATX PSU to power the computer with some photos.

Refrigerator · « **Reply #23 on:** March 22, 2014, 12:59:47 pm »

Thanks for the help, now all i need is a cable to hook up to my TV.

amyk · « **Reply #24 on:** March 22, 2014, 01:24:11 pm »

I was going to say "that looks awfully like a standard PC Molex" and "you'd better check the pinout before just plugging an AT PSU into it", but this picture shows it pretty clearly:
http://zxbyte.ru/pic/byte5_09.jpg


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Author Topic: Teardown of an old Soviet made PC. (Read 12555 times)

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