The sad history of Soviet computers. The history of the development of computer technology in the Armenian SSR What does "Early computers" mean
Almost sixty years ago, on December 31, 1951, work was completed on the first Soviet computer. What happened next? Today we know more about the history of the development of computer technology in the United States than in the former USSR.
In our time, they prefer to remain silent about the domestic computer school. Let's try to reveal some of the facts that led to this.
Although in our time, computational operations are far from the main, and in any case not the only area of application of a computer, historically it owes its emergence precisely to the need to develop computer science.
The first computing devices were various mechanical devices, the most typical representative of which is a decimal arithmometer. The direct predecessors of computers were binary calculus machines, made on electromagnetic relays. They were soon replaced by electronic tube devices, which meant the birth of the first generation of computers.
The appearance of the first computing devices coincides in time with the phenomenal discoveries of scientists in the field of energy, nuclear physics, rocket science, and electronics. Scientific research in these areas required exceptionally accurate, fast and complex calculations. Another reason for speeding up work in the area information technologies- the beginning of the process of post-war confrontation between the USSR and the USA. The first computers appeared in both states almost simultaneously.
Officially, the beginning of the era of computing is considered to be 1946, when the US military department declassified the legendary electronic computer called ENIAC. This first full scale mainframe computer was built at the University of Pennsylvania. Her "Godfather" was the American physicists John Mouchli and John Eckert. The first developed the computer architecture, and the second brought the theoretical developments to life. Work began in 1942, and in the spring of 1945 the computer was built.
The founders of Soviet computer technology were Sergei Lebedev and Isaac Brook. These scientists, working in the energy field, wanted to somehow automate the tedious computational process. As a result, each of them proposed an independent direction in the development of computer technology. In 1939, Brook created in the laboratory of the Energy Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences a mechanical integrator for solving differential equations, and Lebedev created in 1945 an electronic analog machine designed to solve similar problems.
It should be noted that by 1948 in the USSR there were three scientific schools for the development of computer technology:
- Sergey Lebedev, who became the ideologist of computers with high speed;
- Issac Brook, who developed small and control computers;
- Boris Rameev, who until the end of the 60s headed the direction related to the development of a universal computer.
The beginning of the history of Soviet computer technology is considered to be 1948. It was in this year that, under the leadership of Brook and his colleague Rameev, a project was developed for an automatic digital computer with strict program control. However, this project was not implemented. In the same year, Lebedev began work on the creation of a small electronic calculating machine on the basis of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, which was successfully completed two years later.
In 1949, Rameev developed a project for a new Strela computer and participated in its creation as Bazilevsky's deputy chief designer. "Strela" became the first Soviet serial computer. After her, Rameev, as a general designer, began to actively work on the Ural-1 computer. Today you can see with your own eyes the first Soviet computers in the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. Interesting exhibits are also stored in the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine named after V.M. Glushkov in Kyiv.
By the mid-60s, in addition to the main scientific schools in Moscow and Penza, computers were being created in Minsk (the Minsk series of machines) and Yerevan (Nairi and Razdan mini-computers and medium-performance computers).
Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, headed by V.M. Glushkov, conducted theoretical research in the field of computer design and embodied the theory in real machines - small computers "Dnepr", minicomputers for engineering applications "Promin" and "Mir".
Then it seemed that there were no special barriers to the rapid development of the domestic computer school and computer technology. But then came the fateful December 1967, when a decision was made at the government level to develop a single series of electronic computers (EC computers). But two years later, in the upper lobbies, the authorities found it expedient to develop the industry, relying on the architecture of computers of the IBM 360 software-compatible family.
Academicians Glushkov and Lebedev opposed the copying of IBM systems, pointing out that in this case the technology of almost a decade ago would be reproduced and their own scientific developments would be slowed down. However, their voices were not heard, which forever buried the dream of scientists and enthusiasts to develop their own computer industry. As a result, computer centers were quickly filled with computers of the ES computer family, ASVT, SM computers.
The victims of IBM worship were not justified, as history has proven. So, in the second half of the 80s, the production of personal EC computers (EC-1840, EC-45 and 55) on processors similar to Intel began in Minsk. However, again, microprocessor technology did not allow going beyond the level of Intel 286.
By 1990, about 15 thousand ES computers were in operation. After the cessation of their production, the natural extinction of the domestic computer park began. Service systems collapsed, factories stopped...
Such sad facts emerge when we turn to the history of the creation of domestic personal computers.
Computer literacy assumes that you have an idea about five generations of computers, which you will receive after reading this article.
When they talk about generations, they first of all talk about historical portrait electronic computers (computers).
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Photos in the photo album after a certain period of time show how the same person has changed over time. In the same way, generations of computers present a series of portraits of computer technology at different stages of its development.
The entire history of the development of electronic computing technology is usually divided into generations. Generational changes were most often associated with a change in the element base of computers, with the progress of electronic technology. This has always led to an increase in performance and an increase in memory. In addition, as a rule, there were changes in the architecture of the computer, the range of tasks solved on the computer expanded, the way of interaction between the user and the computer changed.
First generation computers
They were tube cars of the 50s. Their elemental base was vacuum tubes. These computers were very bulky structures containing thousands of lamps, sometimes occupying hundreds of square meters of territory, consuming hundreds of kilowatts of electricity.
For example, one of the first computers was a huge unit with a length of more than 30 meters, contained 18 thousand vacuum tubes and consumed about 150 kilowatts of electricity.
To enter programs and data, punched tapes and punched cards were used. There was no monitor, keyboard and mouse. These machines were used mainly for engineering and scientific calculations not related to the processing of large amounts of data. In 1949, the first semiconductor device was created in the United States, replacing the vacuum tube. He got the name transistor.
second generation computer
In the 60s, transistors became the element base for second-generation computers. Cars have become smaller, more reliable, less energy intensive. Increased performance and internal memory. External (magnetic) memory devices have been greatly developed: magnetic drums, magnetic tape drives.
During this period, programming languages began to develop high level: FORTRAN, ALGOL, COBOL. Drawing up a program has ceased to depend on a specific model of the machine; it has become simpler, clearer, more accessible.
In 1959, a method was invented that made it possible to create on the same plate both transistors and all the necessary connections between them. The circuits thus obtained became known as integrated circuits or chips. The invention of integrated circuits served as the basis for the further miniaturization of computers.
Since then, the number of transistors that can be placed per unit area of an integrated circuit has roughly doubled every year.
third generation computer
This generation of computers was created on a new element base - integrated circuits (ICs).
Third-generation computers began to be produced in the second half of the 60s, when the American company IBM began producing the IBM-360 system of machines. A little later, the IBM-370 series machines appeared.
In the Soviet Union in the 70s, the production of machines of the ES EVM (Unified Computer System) series began, modeled on the IBM 360/370. The speed of the most powerful computer models has already reached several million operations per second. On machines of the third generation, a new type of external storage devices appeared - magnetic disks.
Advances in the development of electronics led to the creation large integrated circuits (LSI), where several tens of thousands of electrical elements were placed in one crystal.
In 1971, the American company Intel announced the creation of a microprocessor. This event was revolutionary in electronics.
is a miniature brain that works according to a program embedded in its memory.
By connecting the microprocessor with input-output devices and external memory, a new type of computer was obtained: a microcomputer.
fourth generation computer
The microcomputer belongs to the fourth generation machines. The most widespread personal computers(PC). Their appearance is associated with the names of two American specialists: and Steve Wozniak. In 1976, their first serial PC, the Apple-1, was born, and in 1977, the Apple-2.
However, since 1980, the American company IBM has become the “trendsetter” in the PC market. Its architecture has become the de facto international standard for professional PCs. The machines of this series were called IBM PC (Personal Computer). The emergence and spread of the PC in terms of its significance for social development is comparable to the emergence of book printing.
With the development of this type of machine, the concept of "information technology" appeared, without which it is impossible to do in most areas of human activity. A new discipline has emerged - computer science.
fifth generation computer
They will be based on a fundamentally new element base. Their main quality should be a high intellectual level, in particular, speech and image recognition. This requires a transition from the traditional von Neumann architecture to architectures that take into account the requirements of the tasks of creating artificial intelligence.
Thus, for computer literacy it is necessary to understand that at the moment created four generations of computers:
- 1st generation: 1946 creation of the ENIAC vacuum tube machine.
- 2nd generation: 60s. Computers are built on transistors.
- 3rd generation: 70s. Computers are built on integrated circuits (ICs).
- 4th generation: Started in 1971 with the invention of the microprocessor (MP). Built on the basis of large integrated circuits (LSI) and super-LSI (VLSI).
The fifth generation of computers is built on the principle human brain, controlled by voice. Accordingly, the use of fundamentally new technologies is expected. Huge efforts have been made by Japan in the development of the 5th generation computer with artificial intelligence, but they have not yet achieved success.
We have good news: from now on, every weekend we will publish the "top 20 ..." - a rating of products, technologies, inventions and inventors, one way or another related to IT.
Our first rating will be the most general. We included computers in it, which, in our opinion, had the greatest impact on the development of the industry. Let's make a reservation right away: in this 20-ke there will be computers in the usual sense of the word - no mechanical "pascalins" and "arithmometers" (we will devote a separate rating to them).
Let's go!
1. Z1
1938 The first programmable computer with an electric drive.
This electromechanical machine of the German engineer Konrad Zuse belongs to the zero generation. In accordance with the ideas of Zuse, it consisted of the main control program, random access memory and an additional computing module. The Z1 used an electromagnetic relay as its main component. The peak performance of the Z1 was somewhere around 1Hz (1 multiplication in 5 seconds), and its operation was provided by a motor from a vacuum cleaner with a power of 1 kW. The machine was placed on several tables pushed together, occupied about 4 m² and weighed 500 kg.
In fact, the real Z1 computer was still far away, and it worked extremely unstable. But in some ways it was more progressive than ENIAC or EDVAC - Z1 used a binary number system and supported data input from a normal keyboard. Unfortunately, the original Z1 and its descendants Z2 and Z3, along with all the documentation, perished in 1944 under Allied bombs.
2. ENIAC
1946 The first general purpose electronic digital computer.
This American car can already be safely called a first-generation computer. ENIAC had all the hallmarks of a real computer, including a fully electronic component base - vacuum tubes.
A team led by J. Eckert and J. Mauchly spent 3 years buildingENIACand received a real monster weighing 30 tons, which occupied several halls and consumed 174 kW. Computing powerENIACwas 357 operationsmultiplication or 5000 operationsadditions Vgive me a sec , clock frequency - 100kHz. The machine supported data entry from punched cards, and was programmed by a whole system of toggle switches.
For several years, ENIAC has been used to solve scientific and military problems, however, with varying degrees of success. In general, this computer cannot be called successful: ENIAC broke down every other time, was inconvenient to use and, frankly, had become outdated by the time it was put into operation. But! This machine was able to prove that computers have a future, and this direction needs to be developed.
1957 The first computer entirely built on transistors.
After numerous tube ENIAC, EDVAC, EDSAC, a new breakthrough happened - NCR, together with GE, developed a computer that used a completely new element base - transistors. The resulting computer NCR-304 can be called the first computer of the second generation.
In the basic configuration, the machine consisted of a block with a central processing unit, magnetic tape memory units, media converters and high-speed data input-output equipment.
The benefits of the new architecture became immediately apparent. NCR-304 easily fit in one room, was easy to use, and, most importantly, it turned out to be much more reliable than its lamp ancestors. Buyers immediately lined up: first the US Marine Corps, then a number of institutions in Washington, and then foreigners - the Japanese bank Sumimoto and others. The car was so successful that it lasted 17 years on the market - the last NCR-304 was dismantled only in 1974.
4 Casio 14-A
1957 The first electric calculator.
By the mid-1950s, computers had spread quite widely, but then the question arose: what about accountants, auditors, and in general everyone who does not need the power of large computers for calculations? The Casio 14-A was the answer. In fact, this is the same calculator as in your mobile phone or tablet - only analog and weighing 150 kg.
The 14-A performed four basic arithmetic operations, was capable of displaying 14-digit numbers, and had little memory. For all its resemblance to a lathe, it was still much more compact and cheaper than existing computers. The target audience appreciated the advantages of the new machine, and since then calculators began to develop actively: they switched to transistors, microcircuits, became miniature, convenient and extremely cheap.
5Apollo Guidance Computer
1961 or 1962. The first embedded computer and the first computer on chips.
The Apollo's on-board control computer is an engineering marvel manufactured at the Raytheon factories. AGC was probably the most advanced development in the IT sector in the early 60s. Modifications of this computer were installed on the command and lunar modules, and they performed calculations and controlled movement, navigation, and controlled the modules during flights.
It was already striking that the element base for the AGC was not lamps or transistors, but integrated circuits. Up to 60% of all microcircuits produced in the USA at that time went to the needs of the Apollo program and specifically to build the AGC. This made it possible to make the computer fast (clock frequency - 2MHz, RAM 512 Bit, ROM 8Kb) and compact enough (250 kg) to be built into dashboard each of the modules.
The descendants of AGC are embedded industrial, on-board and household computers. As for microchips, the mass production of computers based on them began only ten years after AGC.
6. PDP-1 and UM-1NH
1961 and 1963 respectively. Fighting for the right to be considered the first first mini-computer.
By the beginning of the 60s, computers still occupied entire halls and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the use of transistors made them an order of magnitude faster than tube “dinosaurs”. This prompted DEC engineers to an interesting idea - to create a compact and inexpensive transistorized computer.
In 1961 appearedPDP-1. Computer cost $20000, had a size of about 4 refrigerators and a speed of about 20,000 commands per second. Fast car.One of the innovations of the PDP-1 was a 512 x 512 pixel display.PDPwent into series and became one of the most popular computers of the 60s and 70s.
In the USSR, too, they did not sit idly by. In 1963, the UM1-NH computer (“Control machine No. 1 for the national economy”) was introduced in Leningrad. It was slower than the PDP-1 and used discrete logic, but it turned out to be much more compact - it weighed only 80 kg and fit on a desk.
7. IBM System/360
1964 The first family of mass-produced, scalable computers.
The value of this product from IBM is difficult to overestimate. The System/360 series was the first example of computer standardization and scalability. Instead of releasing closed system as before, IBM designed the System/360 as a set of blocks that were compatible with each other, and they all used the same instruction set.
Having bought such a computer once, the customer could improve it, purchase the necessary peripherals, customize it to fit his needs and at the same time not lose the initial investment.
Scalability was not the only finding of IBM engineers. The System/360 was also the first 32-bit system, could handle 16Mb of memory, clock speeds up to 5MHz, and became so successful that it was readily bought until the late 1970s.
8 CDC6600
1964 The first supercomputer.
This masterpiece of Seymour Cray was later called a supercomputer, and then it was “just” an innovative machine with an advanced architecture that could be used to solve very complex problems.
The CDC 6600 was the first to use silicon transistors instead of germanium, an active freon-based cooling system, and all this formed a completely new architecture. The CDC 6600 main processor performed only logical and arithmetic operations, and 10 "peripheral" processors were responsible for working with devices. As a result, the CDC 6600 was capable of simultaneously performing multiple additions, multiplications, and divisions. Thanks to such parallel computing, he became the fastest computer of his time, and a number of his architectural features formed the basis of RISC processors that appeared in the 70s.
9.Honeywell DP-516
1969 The first router server.
Initially, the DP-516 was a fairly ordinary mini-computer - until it was noticed by Jerry Elkind and Larry Robert, who proposed the scheme for the first computer network.
To organize what was soon called ARPANET, it took IMP (Interface Message Processor) - modified DP-516. These computers began to perform the tasks of routing flows in the network. Each such computer could connect to six other IMPs via leased telephone lines from AT&T and transfer data at speeds up to 56 Kbps.
The first experiments on connecting two computers through the IMP took place in the same 1969 - a connection was established between computers in Los Angeles and Stanford.
10. Magnavox Odyssey
1972 First commercial game console.
Until the early 70s computer games were rare fun for students and laboratory assistants who had access to serious computers. In the mid-60s, the American Engineer Ralph Baer, that it was time to change the situation, and in 1969 introduced the Brown Box - a prototype game console. It was a compact device based on the simplest discrete logic. It was connected to a TV and allowed using manipulators to play simple games like "two squares drive a third square around the screen."
Baer signed a contract with Magnavox, which in 1972 released a commercial version of his Brown Box called Odyssey. The console cost around $100, sold well, and laid the foundation for a whole home video game market.
Today, the expression of the computer "Electronic computer" has completely outlived its usefulness. It was replaced by a new, more convenient word with foreign roots "computer". According to some studies, around the world, almost 61% of the entire population of the Earth owns a personal computer. But some 50-60 years ago, no one could have imagined that computers could become a new and incredibly huge niche in commerce. In addition, computer ergonomics have changed every decade.
ENIAC
Previously, in the era of early, still electronic-mechanical computers, which in their capabilities did not differ much from a modern calculator, they occupied huge, specially designated rooms. For example, the very first representative of computers (computers) of the early era - "ENIAC", developed by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania by order of the United States Army. It consumed almost 150 kilowatts of energy, and weighed 30 tons. On the graph you can see the difference in performance between modern computing stations and "ENIAC":
Impressive. Today, even a smartphone that fits in our palm is millions of times superior to what it was decades ago. But today is not about that. In this article, I want to tell you about the merits of our domestic engineers, about the contribution they made to the development of the entire computer industry.
The first computer in the USSR
It all started with the appearance of "MESM" (Small Electronic Calculating Machine), which became the starting point in the development of our computing technologies. Its project was created back in 1948 by the scientist Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev, who was one of the founders of information technology and computer technology in the USSR. And also the Hero of Socialist Labor and the Laureate of the Lenin Prize.
The machine was designed two years later, in 1950. And mounted in a former two-story hostel at the convent in Feofaniya near Kyiv. The computer could perform three thousand operations per second, while consuming 25 kilowatts of electricity. This whole miracle of technological progress consisted of six thousand vacuum tubes-conductors. The area allotted for the entire system was 60 square meters. Also, one of the features of "MESM" was the support of a three-address command system and the ability to read data not only from punched cards, but also from magnetic tape media. Finding the root differential equation became the first calculation processed using "MVEM". A year later (in 1951), the inspection of the Academy of Sciences, Lebedev's MESM was approved and accepted for permanent operation in the military and industrial sphere.
"BESM-1"
Work process at BESM-1
In 1953, again under the wing of Sergei Lebedev, the Large Electronic Computing Machine of the first generation (BESM-1) was developed. Unfortunately, it was released only in one copy. The computing capabilities of BESM became similar to US computers of that time, and BESM-1 became the most advanced and productive computer in Europe. For almost 6 years, the machine has been repeatedly upgraded by engineers. Due to this, its performance was able to reach 10 thousand operations per second. In 1958, after another upgrade, it was decided to rename BESM-1 to BESM-2 and put it into serial production. In total, several dozen pieces of this computer were produced.
"Arrow"
But the legendary Strela, developed around the same period in the early 50s under the auspices of chief engineer Yuri Yakovlevich Bazilevsky, became the first mass Soviet computer.
The computing power of Strela was 2,000 operations per second. Which was slightly inferior to the same "MESM" by Lebedev, but nevertheless this did not prevent Strela from becoming the best in the field of industrial computers. In total, 7 such copies were released into the world.
"M-1"
It is already clear that the late 40s and early 50s were very fruitful in relation to the growing enthusiasm for the implementation computer systems into the industrial and military niches of the former Soviet Union. So in Moscow, employees of the Krzhizhanovsky Energy Institute developed their own computer, and in 1948 a patent was even filed for its registration.
The key figures in this project were Bashir Rameev and Isaac Brook. By 1951, the computer ("M-1") was designed, but in terms of its capabilities it was inferior to the same MESM Lebedev in terms of computing power. Compared to the MESM, the M-1 computer could perform only 20 operations per second, which is 150 times less than the number of MESM calculations. But this disadvantage was compensated by the relative compactness of the entire system and its energy efficiency. Instead of 60 square meters required for the complete installation of "MESM", "M-1" required about 10 square meters, and the current consumption during operation was 29 kilowatts. According to Isaac Brook, such computers should be aimed at small businesses that do not operate with large capital.
Soon "M-1" was significantly improved. The new name assigned to the second generation was the same short, natural, but at the same time catchy "M-2". I must say that I have a special attitude towards the names of equipment in the Soviet Union and Russia. And no matter what anyone says about their rudeness and homeliness, in comparison with their American counterparts, I like ours more, and personally I can’t imagine that the emblem of the conditional Elbrus was written or called in a foreign language.
But let's get back to our computer. "M-2" became the best "computer" in the Soviet Union in terms of price, quality and performance. By the way, in the first computer chess tournament, in which many countries competed, thereby presenting the possibilities and results of their developments in the IT field, M-2 won an unconditional victory.
Due to their extreme success, the top three computers - "BESM", "Strela" and "M-2" - entered the service to solve the needs of the country's military defense, science and even the national economy.
What does "early computers" mean?
Everything I've talked about above is first-generation computing. This classification is determined by the fact that they all had large dimensions, vacuum tubes and element bases, as well as high power consumption and, unfortunately, low reliability and focus on a narrow audience (mainly physicists, engineers and other scientists). Magnetic drums and magnetic tapes were used as external memory.
"IBM 701"
It might seem to someone that it was only with us, but no. For example, having familiarized himself with the developments of his colleagues from the States, Academician Nikolai Nikolaevich Moiseev saw the same gigantic computers, around which sophisticated physicists and mathematicians dressed in white coats swarm, zealously trying to eliminate problems that arise one after another. In the 50s, the pride of America was the "IBM 701", which is definitely worthy of a separate story, but that's later. Its computing power was 15 thousand operations per second. A little later, Lebedev presented the next development of the M-20 computer.
"M-20"
Work for "M-20"
The number of operations that the M-20 could process per second was 20,000, which is 5,000 more than that of its Western competitor. A kind of combination of parallel computing was also introduced, thanks to the doubled, in comparison with BESM, the amount of RAM. Ironically, only 20 units of the M-20 system were produced. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the M-20 from establishing itself as the most productive and multifunctional computer, which, moreover, was the most reliable among the rest. The ability to write code in mnemonic codes is only a small part of what the M-20 allowed to do. All scientific calculations and simulations carried out in the USSR in the 20th century were mainly performed on this machine.
Computer "Ural"
The period of production and operation of early computers in the Soviet Union continued for almost 20-30 years. In the early 60s, the production of the Ural computer was started. For all the time, about 150 pieces of equipment were produced. The main area of application of "Ural" was economic calculations.
Conclusion
That's all for today. Thank you very much for reading to the end. In the next parts of the cycle, we will consider the history of the ES computers ( unified systems electronic computers), as well as home computers once produced in the Soviet Union, and of course we will not forget about modern technology Elbrus.