The K 1840, full name RVS K 1840 (, "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 ...

") is a

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...

from 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 ...

(GDR). Its development began in August 1985 at VEB Robotron Elektronik in Dresden, and it went into production in 1988.

Minicomputer

The K 1840 minicomputer is a clone of

VAX-11/780 The VAX-11 is a discontinued family of 32-bit superminicomputers, running the Virtual Address eXtension (VAX) instruction set architecture (ISA), developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Development began in 1976. In ad ...

from

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 export 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 ...

minicomputers to

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 was forbidden 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. Therefore one was developed locally, using

computer aided design 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 ...

(CAD) 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 ...

. The K 1840 is the first 32-bit computer of the M 32 VAX-compatible minicomputer line. Copies of VAX-11/7xx computers are known also from Czechoslovakia (CM 5152), Hungary (TPA-11/540, 560 and 580), Romania (CORAL 8730) and the Soviet Union (CM 1700). K 1840 has a maximum computing speed of 1.1 MIPS; it can access up to 16 MiB of main memory and up to 4 GiB of virtual memory. The first prototype with the essential core components was introduced in April 1987, and five more were built from then until September 1987. The new computer was presented to the public in October 1987. In 1988 it was awarded the

National Prize of the GDR The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

, 1st class, and a gold medal at the Leipzig spring fair. Production started in June 1988 and 217 machines were delivered at a price of 1.9 million

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

up to 1990. While the K 1840 was under development, its successor (the K 1845, based on the VAX-11/785) had already been conceived. The K 1845 was presented to the public at the Leipzig spring fair in 1990. It has a larger main storage capacity (up to 64 MiB) and can handle more bus adaptors and controllers than its predecessor. Twenty prototypes were built. A further successor was contemplated: the K 1850, with a performance of 6 MIPS, using

emitter-coupled logic In electronics, emitter-coupled logic (ECL) is a high-speed integrated circuit bipolar transistor logic family. ECL uses an overdriven bipolar junction transistor (BJT) differential amplifier with single-ended input and limited emitter current to ...

(ECL) gate arrays. Robotron developed a copy 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 ...

called the

K 1820 The K 1820, full name RVS K 1820 ({{lang, de, Rechnersystem mit virtuellem Speicher, "computer system with virtual memory"), cipher in the SM EVM of the former COMECON countries SM 1720, is a workstation developed in East Germany. VEB Robotron ...

, which reaches approximately 90% of the performance of the K 1840. The K 1820 is fully compatible with the software of the K 1840, so that already-developed system and application software can be used. In mid-1990, production of the K 1840 and K 1845 and all development work stopped, because economical production was not feasible under free-market conditions resulting from the currency, economic and social union of East and West Germany on 1 July 1990, causing the collapse of Robotron's traditional markets in 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 ...

and

East Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the 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 Russia, whic ...

. There are K 1840s in the Technische Sammlungen Museum in Dresden, in the Konrad-Zuse-Computermuseum in

Hoyerswerda Hoyerswerda () or Wojerecy () is a major district town in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in the Sorbian settlement area of Upper Lusatia, a region where some people speak the Sorbian language in addition to G ...

and in the

Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum (CHM) is a museum of computer history, located in Mountain View, California. The museum presents stories and artifacts of Silicon Valley and the information age, and explores the computing revolution and its impact on ...

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, US.Accession Number 102678345 of the Computer History Museum
/ref>

Notes

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

External links

* ttp://www.robotrontechnik.de/html/computer/k1840.htm K 1840 at www.robotrontechnik.de
Technische Sammlungen Dresden
{{in lang, de

* ttp://www.computerhistory.org/ The Computer History museum Minicomputers Goods manufactured in East Germany Science and technology in East Germany Computers designed in Germany