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Mikrosha

Te Mikrosha is a computer built in Russia in 1991. It is based on the Intel 8080, had 32KByte of RAM and text only display capabilities. There is a 8253 timer to provide various timing signals, including sound for the speaker, which was driven through the Interrupt Enable signal line. The system had a serial and parallel interface and a system bus for expansion. The only built in software is a 2K ROM containing a monitor program to load software from tape. There was a BASIC ROM expansion available, but this was too expensive and out of reach for most users. They resorted to loading BASIC from tape. The system has been loosely designed after the Radio-86RK, a computer that was published in the Radio Magazine. The problem for Russians was that the VSLI chips that this computer was designed upon were not available for them, so the Mikrosha has TTL logic that implements much of the circuitry that was contained in those chips.

The end product was a decent computer, but considering the year and what was available in the Western markets, it was outdated the moment it came on the market.

Mikrosha Images

The Intel 8080 CPU

The Intel 8080 was an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed and manufactured by Intel Corporation. It was the first CPU in the x80 series, and was released in April 1974. The 8080 had a clock speed of 2 MHz and was capable of addressing 64 KB of memory. It had a total of 45 instructions and 7 registers, including the Accumulator, the Flags register and the stack pointer.

One of the key features of the 8080 was its ability to directly execute instructions for input/output operations, allowing for more efficient communication with peripheral devices such as keyboard, display, and storage. This made the 8080 a popular choice for early personal computers like the Altair 8800, the IMSAI 8080 and the first IBM PC.

Additionally, the 8080's architecture was widely adopted in industrial control systems and arcade games. It was also used as the basis for other microprocessors such as the Zilog Z80 which was widely used in home computers of the 1980s.

The 8080 was succeeded by the 8085 microprocessor in 1976, which was similar to the 8080 but had an additional instruction set and an integrated clock generator. The 8080 and the 8085 together with their variants and clones played an important role in the development of the microcomputer industry and the personal computer revolution.

Technical Details
Released 1991 Brand Lianozovo Electromechanical Plant Type Soviet Era Computers Name Mikrosha CPU Class 8080 CPU Intel 8080 @1.77MHz Memory RAM: 32kB
ROM: 2kB
Sound Chip none Sound Mono speaker Display Chip none Display 64x25 Text Only Best Text 64x25 Best Color none Best Graphics Text Only Sprites none System OS Monitor
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Soviet Era Computers
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Mikrosha  (1991)
Related Media
World Wide Web Links
 
Wikipedia: Intel 8080 CPU
Wikipedia page for the Intel 8080 processor.
 
Intel 8080 Instruction Set
An overview of the intel 8080 instruction set.