The Specialist () is a DIY computer designed in
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Its description was published in ''Modelist-Konstructor'' (), a magazine for scale model builders in 1987.
It was the first such publication in a magazine not oriented on electronics.
Overview
The original construction was developed by a
professional technical school teacher two years earlier. It was much more advanced than previous DIY computers, because it had a higher graphical
image resolution
Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...
(384x256) and a "transparent" video system, which did not slow down the CPU when both the CPU and the video system tried to access the
RAM simultaneously. It gained limited popularity with hobbyists, though some factories produced DIY kits (Lik for example).
Technical specifications
*
CPU:
KR580VM80A (
Intel 8080A clone) clocked at 2 MHz.
*
RAM: 32 or 48
KiB.
*
ROM: 2 KiB, expandable to 12 KiB. ROM contains
monitor firmware.
* Video: monochrome graphics mode. The
image resolution
Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...
is 384 × 256
pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s. Text can be displayed using 64 columns × 25 rows of characters. Images for the upper case Cyrillic and Latin characters in
KOI-7 N2 encoding are built in the Monitor ROM.
* Storage media: cassette tape. The recording format is compatible with the one used in
Radio-86RK.
* Keyboard:
membrane
A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...
type, 72 keys. The keyboard matrix is attached via programmable peripheral interface chip KR580VV55 (
Intel 8255 clone) and scanned by CPU.
References
Soviet computer systems
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