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Nowadays personal computers in Russia are always products of foreign industry, and few people know that high-quality computing machines can be produced in our country. Nevertheless, the history of Soviet computers confirms that once there were prerequisites for the development of our own computers with interesting features and great prospects in our country.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:35

The refusal of using computers by national production occurred in the 80-90-ies of the last century, when the first appeared computers in the Soviet Union IBM PC were more reliable and convenient than brands existed in our country like "Robotron", "Electronica", "Iskra", etc. However, the history of Soviet computers originates long before the fall of the USSR, and its individual stages are truly impressive.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:36

The postwar years were the starting point in the creation history of Soviet computers. In 1948, a group of engineers led By S. N. Lebedev in the Feofania town nearby Kiev began to develop MESM (small electronic counting machine). The basic principles of constructing computers were implemented by Soviet engineers in a short time, and at the end of 1951, the mass operation of this machine began. And two years later in Moscow, on the basis of the developed model is created BESM – a large electronic counting machine, at the Institute of Exact Mechanics and computer center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Director of which was S. N. Lebedev himself.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:36

The machines of this series became ones of the best in the United States and Europe! Today it is hard to believe, but the speed of BESM, as well as the ability to perform complex mathematical operations – all of it confirmed the high level of technology development in the Soviet Union and opened up wide prospects for new discoveries and achievements.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:36

Moreover, other scientists had been working on the creation of electronic computers in parallel with S. N. Lebedev – in particular, since 1948, in the design Bureau No. 245, headed by M. A. Lesechko, there had been developing a digital computer, called "Strela". The speed of its activity amounted to two thousand operations per second, which was five times inferior to the speed of BESM. But it was "Strela" for the first time began to be produced commercially.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:36

The third most important link in the history of Soviet computer engineering were the developments created by a group of engineers under the leadership of I. S. Brook. The M1 was the name of Brooke's first machine. This machine was featured by extremely low speed, but its important advantage was the small dimensions, which made the development easy to use in any room. Subsequently, the development of I. S. Brook were improved, and in 1953 the machine "M2", which speed was already two thousand operations per minute, combined all the advantages of Soviet computers!

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:36

Three electronic computers – BESM, "Strela" and "M2" belong to the so-called Soviet computers of the first generation. All these developments had significant drawbacks – in particular, a high degree of energy consumption and a small RAM required improvement, but Western machines of the time did not surpass Soviet computers in their performance characteristics.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:37

The M-20 computer, released By S. N. Lebedev in 1959, significantly differed from earlier developments. This machine really became one of the best in the world, because its performance amounted to 20 thousand operations per second, the amount of RAM exceeded twice the same parameter BESM, software options were significantly expanded, and the reliability of the machine was impressive. However, the M-20 computer was produced in only twenty copies.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:37

The development of computer technology took place in the Soviet Union rapidly, quickly and efficiently, and in the 60s of the last century, the state enterprises were equipped with a variety of computers, including the famous M-220, Minsk-2, etc. But the culmination in the history of Soviet computers was BESM-6, which appeared in 1967.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:37

This particular machine firstly struck the whole world with incredible performance – one million operations per second! It was this machine that met all the requirements of reliability, and the new technologies used in the creation of BESM-6, allowed to perform up to 14 operations simultaneously. And it was this machine that remained in demand for a record long time – after all, the last copy of the BESM was withdrawn from use in 1995. The 5E26 computer had similar characteristics, but it was not widely used, as it was created specifically for the tasks facing the anti-missile complex.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:37

The decline in the development of computer technology began in the USSR in the late 60s of the last century, when it was decided to move to the use of unified parts of the Western model for certain reasons. As a result of this transition, Soviet technology went back twenty years and was no longer able to compete with Western developments.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:37

That's why, today the Soviet computer is the valor of the great bygone of our country, as well as the evidence of past days scientists' wide opportunities, forever lost in our days.

metalcrue 22.12.19 в 11:38