> On Oct 17, 2022, at 2:47 PM, Joshua Rice via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> 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.
That's definitely accurate. I have seen pictures of Russian Pro clones.
> 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.
You probably have heard of the CVAX chip, where on the mask in microscopic
lettering is the message, in Russian: "CVAX -- when you want to steal the very
best".
> 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?
Here's something:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius_Computer_Factory
That's not the only Soviet clone factory, but it's an interesting one. I have
a brochure from them, which I think I got when they visited DEC in the 1980s
(which takes some chutzpah!). The brochure is not all that clear, but the
Wikipedia article says their 32-bit machine "SM 1700" is a VAX clone.
Apparently a number of their other machines were not clones but original
designs.
paul
