Iskra 226 Computer

Image from http://www.museum.ru/C8008

Pavel Verevkin has pointed me at an interesting computer named the Iskra 226. It was a cloned and enhanced Wang 2200 computer, made in the Soviet Union. Pavel says about the Iskra 226 (combining two emails into one message):

Maybe you will be interested in some additional info I have. The Wang 2200 was cloned (with some apparent modifications) by the Soviet Union and was produced as "Iskra 226". Here is is: http://www.museum.ru/C8008

The fact was just a rumor back then as there were no Internet and there were no widespread access to Western publications. Also the was a rumor that the export of Wang 2200 to the Eastern block was prohibited by COMCON (Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls), and the computer design was apparently stolen by Soviet intelligence.

I worked with the "Iskra 226" in 80s a lot - actually it was pretty popular at least in some parts of Soviet Union. The were several modifications of it. The model I worked with had 128K of RAM - 64K was used for processor code (the T-BASIC interpreter resided there after being loaded from hard drive), and another 64K was used as a data storage (including T-BASIC program and data). Is it different from Wang 2200?

Also I found on your site the following text:

Stupid Trick #7 -- Microcode Abuse

The $GIO instruction allows executing synthetic microcode programs for performing fast I/O to peripherals, such as serial ports and reel-to-reel tape drives. However, they keyboard and display are just peripherals as far as the microcode is concerned. With some cunning, I'm sure some interesting feats could be achieved, such as high speed screen drawing, but I must admit to just speculating here. Some rainy day I'll make an attempt and report my results here.

Actually, "Iskra 226" I dealt with had unique vector graphic controller (with commands very similar to a plotter) which allowed to draw vector graphics to the display (which was usually character) right alongside character data. I never saw anything like this before or after - was it stolen from Wang too or something else? Anyway, I used direct microcode output (not sure about $GIO syntax) to make animation with the vector commands (and code 03 - clear screen) - a little running man. That was all performance allowed to do with the real graphics, so my real games on the computer were made with pseudographics (X and Y for the running man).

The Iskra 226 was produced in USSR by "Schetmash" in Kursk, Russia. This is their history page: http://www.schetmash.ru/history/index.html

The line near "year 1985" states: "USSR state prize for personal computer "Iskra 226" was won by V.I.Shuteev and F.A.Bubalo".

Hope this shed a little bit of a new light at the interesting nostalgic theme.

Pavel Verevkin