17 Oct
2022
17 Oct
'22
noon
On Oct 17, 2022, at 2:47 PM, Joshua Rice via cctalk
<cctalk(a)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