Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> After some discussion on reddit about russian PDP-11 clones, i made the
> (perhaps erronous) claim that the PDP series in general was cloned by the
> Soviets.
>
> I’m aware that there was a lot of QBUS/LSI PDP-11 clones, and depite poor
> documentation, there is significant evidence of PDP-8 clones. Also, depite
> not strictly a “PDP”, the VAX series was also cloned.
>
> However, i’m curious whether anyone has any evidence of either the 18-bit or
> 36-bit PDP machines being cloned? I imagine that given the rather lacklustre
> success of the 18-bit series, that there would have been less demand for an
> 18-bit PDP machine in the Soviet Union, but i find it quite hard to believe
> that no attempt to clone the PDP-6 and PDP-10 machines would have been
> attempted.
>
> Does anyone here have any information on such clones?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Josh Rice
Josh, it seems to be difficult for any "western" guy to belive that
russians or the "warshaw pakt countries" where able to develop ther own
systems of computers, that's simply wrong.
The demand for "clones" are only existed since it was pretty much
ineffective to develop all the interesting software for all the own
stuff again, you know there are many man years necessary..in the east
and in the west. Software clould easily copied, harware couldn't, it
has to be build. Therefore it isn't effective to clone parts that aren't
available locally, where other parts that could do the job are.
Therefore most of the machines aren't clones.
(don't come and say that copying software is illegal, there was not
only one illegal thing that NSA/CIA/GCHQ has done to that time, so why
don't do the same? It where totally different economical systems)
The PDP11 architecture looked interesting, so they build compatible
computers, not clones, on that this software could run.
The soviet SM-1420 (~ PDP11/34) (Wikipedia stated that they where build
in the former GDR also, wich is simply wrong) used AM2901 compatible
Chips to build the CPU (not the FPU!), which wasn't done from DEC in
any of ther PDP11's as far as I know.
Things got "cloned" by reading the manuals and developing an own
hardware that fits and used available parts.
There wasn't much demand to build an PDP8, 6 or 10, the 11 was much more
intersting. BTW: As far as I heard some of the russian ICBM's using
computers build from the more advanched russian "PDP11-clones".
Regards,
Holm
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