CID 201 was a digital computer produced in Cuba in 1970.

History

Cuba had already produced the

analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses physical phenomena such as Electrical network, electrical, Mechanics, mechanical, or Hydraulics, hydraulic quantities behaving according to the math ...

SILNA 999. In 1969, the Cuban leader

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

asked during a visit to the

University of Havana The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...

if Cuba could produce a

digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', wh ...

. The (CID, "Center for Digital Researches") was formed. The project was directed by Luis Carrasco and mostly designed by

Orlando Ramos Orlando Ramos is an American politician serving as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 9th Hampden district. Elected in November 2020, he assumed office on January 6, 2021. Early life and education Ramos was born a ...

. The first version was designed using

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

s, but after the introduction of

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 ...

s, the design was changed. It was inspired by the American 1965

PDP-8 The PDP-8 is a family of 12-bit minicomputers that was produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It was the first commercially successful minicomputer, with over 50,000 units sold during the model's lifetime. Its basic design follows the pi ...

. The components were mostly Japanese, due to the American embargo on Cuba. On 18 April 1970, the first computer was produced. It was named CID 201 following the earlier digital watch CID 101. It could do 25 000 additions/second. Its memory held 4 096

12-bit Before the widespread adoption of ASCII in the late 1960s, six-bit character codes were common and a 12-bit word, which could hold two characters, was a convenient size. This also made it useful for storing a single decimal digit along with a si ...

word A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...

s. It was considered a third-generation computer. It could be programmed in LEAL (, "algorithmic language"). A later version was the CID 201-A. The CID also produced the CID 201-B, CID-300/10, CID-1408 and CID-1417. Among the

peripheral A peripheral device, or simply peripheral, is an auxiliary hardware device that a computer uses to transfer information externally. A peripheral is a hardware component that is accessible to and controlled by a computer but is not a core compo ...

s produced, several thousands of displays were exported to the Soviet Union.

Application

The first computer was installed in the

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or sugar extracted from beets into white refined sugar. Cane sugar mills traditionally produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it color ...

Camilo Cienfuegos to control the railroad traffic during the sugarcane harvest. Another one was installed in the Ecuador refinery.

Legacy

* On 2010, the Cuban Administración Postal issued a stamp commemorating the CID-201.

References

{{mini-compu-stub 1970 establishments in Cuba Cuban inventions 12-bit computers Minicomputers Science and technology in Cuba Computer-related introductions in 1970

History

Application

Legacy

See also

References