[cctalk] Re: Soviet PDP clones

------ Original Message ------ From: "Holm Tiffe via cctalk" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> Cc: "Holm Tiffe" <holm(a)freibergnet.de> Sent: Tuesday, 18 Oct, 2022 At 08:45 Subject: [cctalk] Re: Soviet PDP clones 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. Hi, I apologise for any misunderstanding. By "clone", i didn't exactly mean a 1-to-1 copy, but more a reimplementation. Much like the term "IBM PC clone" is still used to describe non-IBM-derived PC designs. I understand that the eastern european countries can and di design their own machines, but it's undeniable that the Soviet leaders deemed it more valuable to copy western designs than design their own domestic architectures from scratch. There was also plenty of designs that were literal "clones", down to the silicon gates. Cheers, Josh