One way to find out! On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:53 PM, Sean Caron <sca...@umich.edu> wrote:
> I've spent a lot of time researching computer engineering in the Eastern > Bloc ... there aren't a lot of sources here in the West that really > describe well everything they did over there ... my Russian skills are > absolutely awful so most of my knowledge derives from these secondhand > summary papers that were written ... I always found it intriguing; while > they did their share of cloning Western designs, or creating a local spin > on a design from the West with some architectural modifications or > enhancements; being somewhat isolated from what was canonical over here, > they also had their share of quite unusual indigenous designs ... a few of > the papers I have read discuss experiments with hybrid analog/digital > computers, ternary logic, and the Elbrus VLIW design would have been fairly > innovative for the time ... the BESM-6 was not a complete slouch when first > introduced; even today, there are some interesting designs coming out of > the CIS, like the Multiclet CPU ... I'd love to get my hands on a developer > board but they are a little spendy ... And that's not to mention the > computer industries in Hungary (I'm sure everyone here has seen the > Hampage!); East Germany and so on. > > Peripherals, I think they had a harder time with, due to manufacturing > tolerance and QC issues; maybe on this side the export controls were a bit > looser on peripherals versus CPUs ... I've also read the story about CDC > ... I understand they did some peripherals business in the Eastern Bloc as > did some of the other players ... i.e. Memorex? So one is perhaps less > inclined to see indigenous peripherals, but there was a fair bit of > indigenous design in electronics, from what I understand. > > Back to the thread, though, I do have to wonder how much old IBM "big iron" > is still ... or was ever there ... in Cuba ... I could see typewriters, > sure, maybe some punched-card business machines ... and of course > Guantanamo is still occupied by the USA so that doesn't count ... but > full-on computers? Most of those big IBM machines would have been luxuries > yet for a business here in the USA, at the time the Cuban Revolution had > ended ... I can't imagine too many would have made it to the island? > > BTW hat tip on the Electronika MK-90 ... that's cool :O > > Best, > > Sean > > > On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:09 PM, Chuck Guzis <ccl...@sydex.com> wrote: > > > On 06/23/2015 09:32 AM, Holm Tiffe wrote: > > > > Jonathan, I think it is _really_ naive to think that the Soviets gained > >> any > >> big knowledge from that old Mainfraimes. > >> > >> The soviets build the sputnik, atomic bombs and intercontinental > >> ROckets w/o to find such things on cuba at all. > >> There was'nt any technological difference betwenn the US and the USSR at > >> this time. > >> > > > > I remember that in the day, the Bulgarians (and probably other > Warsaw-pact > > countries) were particularly adept at building virtual clones of US > > peripherals. In the 70s, a couple of the CDC brass paid a visit and > > confirmed the story. > > > > It was a trade war, in some respects--not just a "cold war". The USSR > > didn't respect western copyrights and patents, and western countries > > reciprocated. After 1990, some amends were made (cf. "restored copyright" > > in the US). > > > > It had its bright spots--the West got to hear music by USSR composers > > (e.g. Shostakovich, Prokofiev) played more often than they would had the > > works enjoyed IP protection. Doubtless, Western music got a good hearing > > behind the iron curtain. > > > > --Chuck > > > > > > >