The K 1820, full name RVS K 1820 ({{lang, de, Rechnersystem mit virtuellem Speicher, "computer system with

virtual memory In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very l ...

"), cipher in the

SM EVM SM EVM (СМ ЭВМ, abbreviation of Система Малых ЭВМ—literally System of Mini Computers) are several types of Soviet and Comecon minicomputers produced from 1975 through the 1980s. Most types of SM EVM are clones of DEC PDP-11 ...

of the former

COMECON The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (, ; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, CEMA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along wi ...

countries SM 1720, is a

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

developed in

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 ...

. VEB Robotron Elektronik

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

began development of the K 1820 in 1986 and it went into serial production in 1990.

Minicomputer

The K 1820 is a clone of the

MicroVAX II The MicroVAX is a discontinued family of low-cost minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The first model, the MicroVAX I, was introduced in 1983.(announced October 1983) They used processors that impleme ...

made by

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...

(DEC). The import of western

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

computers to the COMECON area was impeded by the

CoCom The Cocom or Cocomes were a Maya family or dynasty who controlled the Yucatán Peninsula in the late Postclassic period. Their capital was at Mayapan. The dynasty was founded by Hunac Ceel, and was overthrown sometime between 1440 and 1441 by Ah ...

technology

embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...

. As the MicroVAX II

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

is one of the first semiconductor devices which was protected by the

Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 The Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 (or SCPA) is an act of the US Congress that makes the layouts of integrated circuits legally protected upon registration, and hence illegal to copy without permission. It is an integrated circuit l ...

, independent development of modern

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

technology based on a 32-bit

computer architecture In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, t ...

began. Copies of the MicroVAX II were also created in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(MicroSTAR 32 or TPA-11/510) and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(SМ 1702).Soviet SМ 1702
(in Russian language) The K 1820 extends the

VAX VAX (an acronym for Virtual Address eXtension) is a series of computers featuring a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) and virtual memory that was developed and sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 20th century. The VA ...

-compatible computer line in the SM EVM and the models of the K 1820 achieve approximately 90% of the performance of the K 1840 (Robotron "RVS K 1840", compatible with the VAX 11/780). The K 1820 is fully compatible with K 1840 software, so preexisting system and application software can be used. The K 1820 is based on the

VLSI Very large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) c ...

U80700-microprocessor system, its 32-bit CPU

U80701 The U80701 is a 32-bit microprocessor developed from 1986-1990 in the German Democratic Republic. It was manufactured by VEB Mikroelektronik "Karl Marx" Erfurt (MME) in NMOS technology and is encased in a ceramic quad flat package (CQFP-68 pac ...

was developed according to the

MicroVAX 78032 The MicroVAX 78032 (otherwise known as the DC333) is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that implements a subset of the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA). The 78032 is used exclusively in DEC's VA ...

. The mainboard design and construction are original. A

VT220 The VT220 is a computer terminal introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in November 1983. The VT240 added monochrome ReGIS vector graphics support to the base model, while the VT241 did the same in color. The 200 series replaced the s ...

-compatible

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

, the K 8941, was developed for the machine. Approximately 10 K 1820 prototypes were built up to 1990. In the middle of 1990 development was stopped, because economic production was not possible under free-market conditions after the monetary, economic and social union between East and West Germany on 1 July 1990. Subsequent to this Robotron's traditional markets in the

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

collapsed. At least one prototype of the K 1820 is owned by the Technische Sammlungen Museum.

References

*Dieter Walter:
History of the VEB Robotron Elektronik Dresden
'; PDF in German language *Claus Preussler, Klaus-Dieter Weise:
Compilation of Robotron computer products
'; PDF in German language *
User's manual K 1821/K 1822
'; VEB Robotron Elektronik Dresden, November, 1989; PDF in German language *
Technical manual ZVE KAC20
'; VEB Robotron Elektronik Dresden, December, 1989; PDF in German language

Notes

External links

in German language
Technical Collections Dresden

www.robotrontechnik.de

Versions of K 1822 computer cases

Block diagram ZVE KAC20
Computer workstations Microcomputers Minicomputers Goods manufactured in East Germany Science and technology in East Germany Computers designed in Germany