The UT-88 () is a DIY educational computer designed in the

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 ''YT dlya umelykh ruk'' (''Young technical designer for skilled hands'', ) — a supplement to ''Yunij Technik'' (''Young technical designer'', ) magazine in 1989. It was intended for building by school children of extracurricular hobby groups at

Pioneers Palace Young Pioneer Palaces or Palaces of Young Pioneers and Schoolchildren were youth centers designated for the creative work, sport training and extracurricular activities of Pioneer movement, Young Pioneers (primarily in the Young Pioneers (Sovi ...

Description

At the time of publication, there were several DIY computers:

Micro-80 The Micro-80 () was the first do-it-yourself home computer in the Soviet Union. Overview Schematics and information were published in the local DIY electronic magazine ''Radio'' in 1983. It was complex, using an KR580VM80A-based system (a clone o ...

Radio-86RK The Radio-86RK () is a build-it-yourself home computer designed in the Soviet Union. It was featured in the popular ''Radio'' () magazine for radio hams and electronics hobbyists in 1986. The letters RK in the title stands for the words ''Radio ...

, and

Specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

. The main feature of UT-88 was the possibility to build a computer in stages while getting a workable construction at each step. This approach made it easier to build by less skilled hobbyists. The minimal configuration of the computer includes a power supply, CPU, 1 KiB of ROM and 1 KiB of RAM, 6

seven-segment display A seven-segment display is a display device for Arabic numerals, less complex than a device that can show more characters such as dot matrix displays. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, basic calculators, ...

s, a 17-key keyboard, and a tape interface. This computer can be used as a scientific calculator. Full configuration adds a display module with a TV interface, a full keyboard, and a 64 KiB dynamic RAM module.

References

Soviet computer systems {{Comp-hardware-stub