Lviv PC-01
Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:07 pmA long time ago in a country far, far away....
At the beginning of 80th soviet clone of famous CPU i8080 arrived to the city of Lviv. There wasn’t any documentation, any examples or instructions about this wonderful black box. But this magic attracted a lot of people from universities. On these images you can see i8080 usage evolution:
The last picture is the widely–known in narrow circles computer PC-01 Lviv. Its developing was almost finished in 1985. But you know, Soviet government, bureaucracy… So, the production started several years later. It was even difficult to defend name “Lviv” in Moscow. “What? Lviv? No-no! This is nationalism!” But “Gorbachev”, “perestroika” and other fresh winds help to leave original name.
At the end of 1987 or a little bit later computer appeared in shops. It cost about 650-750 rub. 150 rub. per month was not so bad salary. If you are cool and experienced engineer you can get about 300 rub. Good price for 8 bit computer at the end of 80th, isn’t it? But usually PC-01 was sold as soon as it came to warehouse. To understand this crazy situation you should know what else soviet people can by in that period. So, you can made computer “Micro-80” by your hands or buy it about twice cheaper that PC-01. “Micro-80” also has i8080 clone, but it hasn’t no graphic, no color, no sound. I told “you can buy”, but really you can’t. This computer also never was stored for a long time. What else… BK-0010 has the powerful PDP-11 clone and the same price as PC-01. It can be great home computer, but 16 KB of RAM and only 4 predefined colors was the sad soviet legacy. Other computers cost more than 1000 rub. and weren’t present at shops.
[youtube]sOawyP8ubr0[/youtube]
(Beautiful story about love between soviet computer and student girl. 1987)
So, what you’ll have for this money. You’ll have i8080 clone, 48 KB RAM, 16 RB ROM, 16 KB video, 256x256 resolution, 4 colors palette from 8 possible. You should buy tape-recorder, and modify your TV set for custom RGB port. One cassette with two or three programs and several small instructions were present in box. And… nothing else. You can’t go to the shop and buy new game. You can’t order joystick or book for this computer. This is soviet reality. “We produced computer for you, and you should make everything you want by your hands”.
[youtube]bHhU_1hXWTE[/youtube]
(PC-01 Lviv advertisement)
And people started to produce. First of all games, of course. Started from simple Basic games for own usage, and then cool Assembler games for sale. Look at these pictures:
(Not Dizzy, but Dracula)
(8 bit racing)
(Every computer must have this game)
(And this, of course)
(Game for two players)
(3D game! Almost…)
And later… But what happened later I’ll tell you next time.
Thank you for the attention. Also, you can play PC-01 games online
Bye!
At the beginning of 80th soviet clone of famous CPU i8080 arrived to the city of Lviv. There wasn’t any documentation, any examples or instructions about this wonderful black box. But this magic attracted a lot of people from universities. On these images you can see i8080 usage evolution:
- Code: Select all
[url]http://lvovpc.ho.ua/files/pk_img2/pk-8-1_2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://lvovpc.ho.ua/files/pk_img/pk_2-1_1.jpg[/url]
[url]http://lvovpc.ho.ua/files/pk_img/pk_7-2_1.jpg[/url]
[url]http://lvovpc.ho.ua/files/pk_img2/pk-7-1_2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://lvovpc.ho.ua/files/pk_img2/pk-6-1_2.jpg[/url]
[url]http://retro-pc.net/musei/comp/pk_lviv/foto1.jpg[/url]
The last picture is the widely–known in narrow circles computer PC-01 Lviv. Its developing was almost finished in 1985. But you know, Soviet government, bureaucracy… So, the production started several years later. It was even difficult to defend name “Lviv” in Moscow. “What? Lviv? No-no! This is nationalism!” But “Gorbachev”, “perestroika” and other fresh winds help to leave original name.
At the end of 1987 or a little bit later computer appeared in shops. It cost about 650-750 rub. 150 rub. per month was not so bad salary. If you are cool and experienced engineer you can get about 300 rub. Good price for 8 bit computer at the end of 80th, isn’t it? But usually PC-01 was sold as soon as it came to warehouse. To understand this crazy situation you should know what else soviet people can by in that period. So, you can made computer “Micro-80” by your hands or buy it about twice cheaper that PC-01. “Micro-80” also has i8080 clone, but it hasn’t no graphic, no color, no sound. I told “you can buy”, but really you can’t. This computer also never was stored for a long time. What else… BK-0010 has the powerful PDP-11 clone and the same price as PC-01. It can be great home computer, but 16 KB of RAM and only 4 predefined colors was the sad soviet legacy. Other computers cost more than 1000 rub. and weren’t present at shops.
[youtube]sOawyP8ubr0[/youtube]
(Beautiful story about love between soviet computer and student girl. 1987)
So, what you’ll have for this money. You’ll have i8080 clone, 48 KB RAM, 16 RB ROM, 16 KB video, 256x256 resolution, 4 colors palette from 8 possible. You should buy tape-recorder, and modify your TV set for custom RGB port. One cassette with two or three programs and several small instructions were present in box. And… nothing else. You can’t go to the shop and buy new game. You can’t order joystick or book for this computer. This is soviet reality. “We produced computer for you, and you should make everything you want by your hands”.
[youtube]bHhU_1hXWTE[/youtube]
(PC-01 Lviv advertisement)
And people started to produce. First of all games, of course. Started from simple Basic games for own usage, and then cool Assembler games for sale. Look at these pictures:
(Not Dizzy, but Dracula)
(8 bit racing)
(Every computer must have this game)
(And this, of course)
(Game for two players)
(3D game! Almost…)
And later… But what happened later I’ll tell you next time.
Thank you for the attention. Also, you can play PC-01 games online
- Code: Select all
http://lvovpc.ho.ua/games/
- Code: Select all
http://boards.dingoonity.org/dingoo-releases/lvivgoo-emulator-of-ukrainian-computer-%27lviv-pk-01%27/
Bye!
- Code: Select all
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?31665-Lviv-PC-01
. Also, other computers generate interrupt every time screen refreshed (50 fps - 50 interrupts). This allows you to synchronize music and game logic. For PC-01 you should to calculate every function's weight in ticks. This is terrible work. And of course, Lviv had huge problems with sound. There is nothing except one bit beeper. Without interrupts and with slow CPU you can play some kind music only with powerful magic.
