The A 5120 was an office computer produced by

VEB Robotron VEB Kombinat Robotron (or simply Robotron) was the biggest East German electronics manufacturer. It was based in Dresden and employed 68,000 people (1989). It produced personal computers, SM EVM minicomputers, the ESER mainframe computers, sev ...

in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

starting in 1982. The system featured an 8-bit

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

, the

U880 The U880 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was manufactured by VEB Mikroelektronik "Karl Marx" Erfurt (abbreviated as MME; part of Kombinat Mikroelektronik Erfurt) in the German Democratic Republic. Production of the U880 started in 1980 at VEB ...

. It was built for office work and had minimal graphics and sound capabilities. The price was between 27,000 and 40,000

East German mark The East German mark (german: Mark der DDR ), commonly called the eastern mark (german: Ostmark, links=no ) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only ''Mark'', was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germa ...

s (around 24,000-35,000 2016 US dollars) depending on equipment. In 1986, a new version was produced, the A 5120.16. The system was identical to the A 5120, with the addition of two additional boards, one with a

U8000 The Z8000 ("''zee-'' or ''zed-eight-thousand''") is a 16-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog in early 1979. The architecture was designed by Bernard Peuto while the logic and physical implementation was done by Masatoshi Shima, assisted by a ...

16-bit microprocessor (a Zilog Z8000 clone), and one with 256KiB

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...

. The original 8-bit system functioned as an I/O subsystem. In this configuration it could run the relatively powerful MUTOS8000 (

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...

System III derivative). The price of this model was between about 32,000 and 48,000

s. In total, about 17,000 A 5120 and A 5120.16 units were manufactured. In March 1983, a stamp was issued by the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

featuring the A 5120. 4.5 million copies were printed. An A 5120 was featured in the 2015 television show ''

Deutschland 83 ''Deutschland 83'' is a 2015 German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-pr ...

'' as an example of technological disparity between East and West Germany in the early 1980s.

Technical details

The original A 5120 had two

(

Zilog Zilog, Inc. is an American manufacturer of microprocessors and 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers. It is also a supplier of application-specific embedded system-on-chip (SoC) products. Its most famous product is the Z80 series of 8-bit microp ...

Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

clone) 8-bit processors, running at 2.25MHz or 2.5MHz. One was dedicated to I/O, while the other was used for normal work. Each was capable of about 625,000 operations per second. It normally came with 16KiB of RAM, but a few units shipped with less. When higher-capacity DRAM chips became available, most units shipped with at least 64KiB, and some with as much as 112KiB. The A 5120.16 upgrade included two new circuit boards, one with a 16-bit U8001 processor (clone of Zilog Z8000), and the other with 256KiB of additional RAM. The original 8-bit system functioned as a terminal to the 16-bit system. For storage, the first A 5120 units had dual magnetic cassette drives, but when the floppy disk version became available, all of these units were converted. The first floppy disk version of the machine included an

8-inch floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined wi ...

drive, with two additional 8-inch drives available in a separate unit. Later, the A 5120 included up to three 5.25-inch drives in place of the 8-inch drive.

Images

File:A 5120, Robotron (I198405).jpg, The A 5120 configured with a

drive File:Robotron-A5120-16-2.jpg, The upgraded 16-bit version, A 5120.16, introduced in 1986

In Popular Culture

It is featured in

DEUTSCHLAND 83 ''Deutschland 83'' is a 2015 German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co-pr ...

SEASON 1 Episode 03 as showcase of difference in technology between East Germany and West Germany.

References

{{compu-hardware-stub Products introduced in 1982 Goods manufactured in East Germany Science and technology in East Germany

Technical details

Images

In Popular Culture

See also

References