ALU Robik () was a Soviet and Ukrainian

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

clone produced between July 1989 and January 1998 by the NPO "Rotor" in

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

. Over 70 000 was produced, while few millions was planned.

Specification

The Robik is a monoblock computer in the keyboard formfactor, with an external power supply block, permanently connected by wire. Older cases produced by the SELTO, and newer produced by the NPO "Rotor" (on the back side of keyboard case there is a logo of manufacturer).

Motherboard

It came in four versions, with only minor changes made for Russian

internationalization and localization In computing, internationalization and localization (American English, American) or internationalisation and localisation (British English, British), often abbreviated i18n and l10n respectively, are means of adapting to different languages, regi ...

. The hardware remained largely unchanged, but cheaper parts were used for each version. The fourth version had the new addition of a single

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

. This version did not sell well because by then the main market for the Robik was hardware enthusiasts and this design did not allow for modifications. Robik had two

EPROM An EPROM (rarely EROM), or erasable programmable read-only memory, is a type of programmable read-only memory (PROM) integrated circuit, chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. Computer memory that can retrieve stored d ...

chips. There are two languages in the M2764AF-1 chip from ST, which can be switched by shortcut keys.

Keyboard

The computer came with 55 keys,. It had the possibility to switch between

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and Russian fonts. * A total of 55 keys in the main group: ** Two ("Reset" keys), ("Delete"), , ; ** Full English/Russian (

QWERTY QWERTY ( ) is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six Computer keyboard keys#Types, keys on the top letter row of the keyboard: . The QWERTY design is based on a layout included in the Sh ...

/ ЙЦУКЕН) keyboard; ** Two , and in some variants; ** and stop keys; ** ("Fire" key), ("Multifunctional" key, in some variants changed to third one ), ; ** ("CAPS C") and ("CAPS L") keys. * Four keys in a separate group (on the right, next to main group) — cursor keys (together with "Fire" key it also worked as a

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

). The letters on switches caps were written using laser beam technology, as a result labels represented as outlined symbols (in the last version stamp printing used for place labels as filled symbols instead). Robik computer keyboard

PKM 1B

The keyboard buttons are based on the PKM 1B ()

reed switch The reed switch is an Electromechanics, electromechanical switch operated by an applied magnetic field. It was invented in 1922 by professor Valentin Kovalenkov at the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University#Soviet era, Petrogra ...

es, instead of copper or iron contact plates. PKM 1B and Cherry MX switches

Initially, the PKM 1B switches produced by the "" (Ukraine) was used, but original production of switches discontinued during the production of the Robik, and the NPO "Rotor" launched its own production line for the PKM 1B switches instead.

Peripherals

The Robik had four ports on the back side: ВИДЕО ("Video"), RGB, JS-K, ◯_◯ ("Tape"). It had no

edge connector An edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board (PCB) consisting of signal trace, traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching jack (connector), socket. The edge connector is a money-saving devic ...

and video output was analog

RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green, and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three ...

on a 5-pin

DIN DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken ...

or digital TTL on an 8-pin DIN. Inside the case there was a male 64-pin connector that could be mapped to the standard edge connector.

Display

The Robick supports to be connected to either monochrome

MDA MDA, mda or variants may refer to: Businesses and organizations Political parties * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2003–2008), in India * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018–present), in India * Movement for Democracy in Africa, in Burkina F ...

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

or color EGA monitor (via ВИДЕО out), or color TV (via RGB out). For the RGB out, there are adjusters for each of color channel (R, G and B), as well as overall color invertor toggle – all are accessible via the marked access holles on the bottom side of computer. There was no

composite video Composite video, also known as CVBS (composite video baseband signal or color, video, blanking and sync), is an analog video format that combines image information—such as brightness (luminance), color (chrominance), and synchronization, int ...

and all I/O ports were 5- and 7-pin DINs. When writing, the screen memory to the TV/monitor screen did not begin from the top left of the border, but instead began from border right under paper. This meant that most multicolor effects and some games did not work correctly. Errors in the ROM have been fixed and

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

letters were also inserted. The keyboard matrix was extended from five keys in eight rows to five keys in nine rows to allow for more buttons. A reset could be performed by pressing two buttons.

Sound

NPO "Rotor" produced an external music sound device for the Robik.

External storage

Robik has no internal mass storage and uses

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

s as an external storage. It requires to connect

cassette deck A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a Transport (recording), transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertai ...

via ◯_◯ ("Tape") port, for read and write data. There was also an external

floppy disk drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

produced for the Robik by NPO "Rotor", to use

diskettes A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

instead of tapes.

Joystick

There is the JS-K port for connecting joysticks via

Kempston Interface Kempston Micro Electronics was an electronics company based in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England specialising in computer joysticks and related home computer peripherals during the 1980s. The Kempston Interface, a peripheral which allowed a joyst ...

Printer

Printer has been developed for the Robik by NPO "Rotor".

Software

The Robik distribution includes a cassette tape with seven programs: # "BASICTEST" (computer testing and debugging application) # "DEVPAC" (

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

decompiler A decompiler is a computer program that translates an executable file back into high-level source code. Unlike a compiler, which converts high-level code into machine code, a decompiler performs the reverse process. While disassemblers translate e ...

debugger A debugger is a computer program used to test and debug other programs (the "target" programs). Common features of debuggers include the ability to run or halt the target program using breakpoints, step through code line by line, and display ...

) # "RED" (

text editor A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. An example of such program is "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be used to c ...

) # "KRACOUT" (video game) # "ART-STUDIO" ( raster image editor) # "IS CHESS-48" ( chess video game) # "BAT"

Legacy

There is a number of the Robik computers stored in various museums and private collections around the world: * ,

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

(Ukraine) * Museum of Computer Technology of the

University of Lviv The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

(Ukraine) * The ''It8bit.Club'' ,

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

(Ukraine). Museum was fully destroyed in March 2022, in a result of shelling by Russians during the Battle of Mariupol (website continue to exists as a virtual museum now) * Ust'-Kamenogorsk Computer Museum (Kazakhstan) * The Peek & Poke Computer Museum,

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

(Croatia) * Le musée de l'informatique Silicium, Corbarieu (France) * Kompjutry.cz, moving computer museum (Czechia) * The Home Computer Museum,

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

(Germany) * The Number Crunchers Homecomputer Museum (Germany) * The Freeman PC Museum,

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

(California, USA) * Rhode Island Computer Museum,

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

(Rhode Island, USA) * Arcade Vintage Museum (), Ibi (Spain) * Reale-Rydell Computer Museum, virtual museum * Hal's friends Computer Museum, virtual museum (Italy) * Osmibitóve muzeum, virtual museum (Chechia) * The Clueless Engineer, vlogger (Australia) *

Personal Computer Museum The Personal Computer Museum was located in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, in a building formerly owned by the municipal government. The building was built with bricks reclaimed from the Brantford Opera House. Over fifty interactive personal comput ...

, Ontario (Canada) У 2017, the "LandauCenter" at the

National University of Kharkiv The V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (), also known as Kharkiv National University or Karazin University, is a public university in Kharkiv, Ukraine. It was founded in 1804 through the efforts of Vasily Karazin, becoming the second old ...

organized an exhibition of the 1980s computers. Exposition included the Robik from the Software and Computer Museum collection. Since the end of production, there are a lot of the Robik computers present on the secondary market.

Facts

* On 22 May 1993, on the cover of the printed addition to one of the local magazines in

Kryvyi Rih Kryvyi Rih ( ; , ), also known as Krivoy Rog ( ), is a city in central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kryvyi Rih Raion and its subordinate Kryvyi Rih urban hromada in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The city is part of the Kryvyi Rih Metropo ...

(Ukraine) was placed the next

classified advert Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements use ...

: * Local schools was gifted with hundreds of the Robik computers by NPO "Rotor" for free. * The hardware contained about three to four grams of gold and almost eighteen grams of silver, and some of other rare metals are present in various

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singula ...

s used in the Robik. As a result, many of the Robik computers have been dismantled for recovery of the costly parts.

Publications

* Documents from the NPO «Rotor» archives, published in the «Legends of Bytes», Issue 10 (2024). * *
АЛП "Робик"
LP "Robik"(Circuit diagram) (DjVu) * * * * * * *

Video

* The Clueless Engineer. * Bazza H.