The USSR Computer Industry

[Steve R.]

A Look Back At The USSR Computer Industry

According to [Asianometry], in 1986 the Soviet Union had about 10,000 computers. At the same time, the United States had 1.3 million! The USSR was hardly a backward country — they’d lau…

hackaday.com

Many Many years ago I worked with a computer programmer from the country of Georgia when it was still part of the defunct USSR. What was very memorable, was how he treated his desktop (at our office in the US). He treated it with extreme reverence and care. Quite different from the US consumer viewpoint. While we view opening the box of our new electronic "toys" with excitement and pride; after a while we move-on, treating them (in the long term) sadly as disposable products. For the guy form Georgia, the computer was something to be well cared for and cherished.

Other historical articles:

CP/M Alive and Well!!

For the old fogies still clinging to CP/M. You have hope for a comeback. ;) https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/15/cpm_open_source/

www.access-programmers.co.uk

The Computers Who Brought ENIAC to Life

https://spectrum.ieee.org/eniac-woman-programmers This also reminded me of the movie "Hidden Figures". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hidden_figures

www.access-programmers.co.uk

Bricks Sold as Hard Drives

A very informative read, delving into recent "ancient" history concerning the dawn of hard drives and innovative accounting.;) https://hackaday.com/2022/04/14/weve-heard-of-bricking-a-hard-drive-but/

www.access-programmers.co.uk

Fun with Primordial Computer Languages - Your Experiences

Besides giving us more "free" time, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated a lot of reflective media coverage over the existence of "old" computer languages, principally COBOL. One recent headline in Digital Trends: The world would fall apart if it weren’t for these ancient programming languages...

www.access-programmers.co.uk

Laugh of the Day - 5.25" Floppy

My first computer was the Apple IIe. I waited to buy until it came with the 2 disk drive adapter. At the University of Maryland in the late 60's we communicated with the mainframe through a type of teletype that was very clunky. The (unprinted) computer paper from the (dot matrix) printer...

www.access-programmers.co.uk

What to do with Cds/DVDs?

Coffee cup holders? :) This morning, as I looked at my computer parts storage area, I once again wondered what to do with my pile of CDs and DVDs. Virtually everything that was once stored on a floppy drive, CD, and/or DVD is now being stored on USB flash drives. Don't even use the CD player in...

www.access-programmers.co.uk

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I don't know that I treated my government-issued computer with reverence, but I did talk to it a lot. Things like "Oh, no you don't" and "I know where your electric cord is plugged in" and "I can have you wiped and reloaded if you don't start cooperating." BUT of course, I suffered from the same projection syndrome that many programmers and other computer users did... talking to an inanimate object as though it would make any difference in what it did next. Still, it was a good tension release.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

My computer heard very colorful language from me.