HCM: East-European Home-Computer ...
| Bulgaria | Czechoslovakia | GDR (DDR) | Hungary | Poland | Romania | USSR | Yugoslavia |


Czechoslovakian Home-Computer:
| Didaktik Alfa | Didaktik Gama 87 | Didaktik Gama 88 | Didaktik Gama 89 | Didaktik-M | Didaktik Kompakt |
| Tesla PMD 85, 85-1, 85-2, 85-2A, 85-3, Mato | Tesla Ondra | IQ-151 | Consul 2717 | PP-01 | SAPI 1 |
Special thanks to: Michael Strassmann, Ousmane Keita, Martin Schotek, Dave, Martin Kukac, Jan Ciger, Martin Petovsky, Jiri T. Dolezal, Hynek Med, Rudolf Adamkovic, Tomas Franke.

Please contact me if you have any additional information (e.g. pictures / articles), find an error or want to sell/trade/donate a machines to the HCM.

Infos wanted: IQ-151, Ondra, PP-01, Didaktik Alfa, SAPI 1

Machines wanted: Didaktik Alfa (all versions), Tesla Ondra, SAPI 1, PMD 85 (old version), PMD 85-1 (large keyboard), Mato

Didaktik: Alfa, Gama 87/88/89, M, Kompakt


Didaktik Alfa



Didaktik Alfa with Mr. Bar�t and Mr. Petovsky



Didaktik Alfa with plotter



Didaktik Alfa 2

Didaktik Alfa
I received an eMail from Martin Petovsky the industrial designer of the Didaktik Alfa. Today he lives in Germany an added a lot of valuable first-hand information about the Didaktik Alfa:

  • Production date: 1987
  • Hardware-Design is based on the Hewlett-Packard 85
  • People: Ing. Viktor Klemon (Project Manager), Ing. Roman Kiss (Hardware-Concept), Ing. Ludovit Bar�t (Construction), Mgr. Martin Petovsky (Design)
"The Didaktik Alfa was build by a company called Sluzba Bratislava, factory Skalica in 1987. Mr. Ing. Roman Kiss developed the design for the Alfa as well as for the PMD 85 - so both machines are based on the Hewlett-Packard 85 adapted to locally available parts. The Alfa should be the first Basic computer for the Czechoslovakian market using a simple russian black an white TV-Set called "Junost". The TV-Set was placed on top of the Alfa and to match the colour of the TV-Set the first machines were build with white cases - later black, red and blue machines were build. The size of the alfa was also determined by the military-made keyboard. Later there a Alfa-Plotter combination was available (see picture)" (poorly translated)

Martin Schotek found some infos about this computer and put them on his web-page [here].

According to Ousmane Keita the Didaktik Alfa was compatible with the Tesla PMD 85 (it was the same computer but in a different case) - this is confirmed by Martin Schotek. According to [MS] the "Alfa" is a clone of the Tesla PMD 85.1 with a simplified circuit diagram (no changeable ROM module with Basic, Basic was integrated in unused part of memory, simplified address decoder for I/O, changed address of tape interface). The Alfa-2 is a clone of the Tesla PMD 85.2 again with a changed circuit diagram. The Alfa-2 has a newer system software and basic. Also new: power on selftest, font support for all czech and slovak characters.

Some more news from Jan Ciger about the Alfa:
Didaktik Alfa - there are three versions of this machine. Blue case was usualy Didaktik Alfa 1 (the original model). Red case used by Alfa 2 and some refurbished pieces of the Alfa 1 - the machine was quite unreliable.

The third version was called Didaktik Beta and was actually improved version of Didaktik Alfa 2 in a brown (or dark green, not sure anymore - - it is more than 10 years I used one last time) case with a network support.

The HCM would certainly like any blue or brown Didaktik Alfa!!!

The Didaktik Beta network was a proprietary daisy-chain like design, used with another machine - PP 06 (basicaly an IBM PC clone, with 4MHz 8086 CPU). The PC machine was used to upload software to the Betas or to assist pupils with problems. Actually the whole thing was deployed most often as a computer lab for schools. The Alfa,Beta and PMD-85 machines were never home products, they were deployed only to schools and such.

There was one more Didaktik produkt - Didaktik Z (Zeta), but that wasn't a computer, it was an A4 plotter in a case similar to Didaktik Alfa (actually the computer case with the keyboard replaced by paper tray).

If anyone knows more details please let me know ...

Technical Overview:
Year: 1986 [confirmed] CPU: Intel 8080A (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 48kB / 8kB Clone: Tesla PMD 85 / PMB-85.2
Colors: 4 Resolution: 288 x 256



Didaktik Gama 87


Didaktik Gama 88/89


Didaktik Gama (Box)

Didaktik Gama
First of all: this machine is called "gama" and not as often wrongly stated "gamma" - if you don't believe it: have a look at the pictures!

The Didaktik Gama is the first machine of a whole series of sinclair clones made by the slovak company "Didaktik S". Unlike many of the other Sinclair spectrum clones from East Europe the Didaktik series uses the original Ferranti ULA. I am not sure if this means that the Didaktik series is a licenced Sinclair Clone. (Can anyone comment on that? According to Hynek Med this is unlikly.) At least the compatiblilty of the Didaktik should have been quite good.

The Didaktik Gama comes with a built in parallel interface and with 80kB RAM organized as 1x16kB + 2x 32kB.

One strange thing about the Didaktik Gama is that is only has ONE connector for power AND tape drive. So the power-supply has TWO plugs.

There are three versions of the Didaktik Gama named by their respectiv release years: '87 / '88 / '89. According to [SNP] the Gama '87 came in a black case and has some bank switching problemes that were corrected in with the Gama '88 (white case). The Gama '89 added cyrilic characters support. (can anyone confirm that?)

Technical Overview:
Year: 1987 [confirmed] CPU: Zilog Z80/3.5MHz
RAM/ROM: 80kB / 16kB Clone: ZX-Spectrum
Colors: 8 Resolution: 256x192


Didaktik M


Didaktik M (Box)

Didaktik M
The Didaktik M is an improved version of the Didaktik Gama. It comes with built in monitor-output and two joystick interfaces. One Kempston and one Sinclair - unfortunately the connector is non-standard.

Surprisingly the Didaktik M has less RAM than the Gama - 64kB (?)and it can use only 48kB of it - but its compatibility is said to be enhanced.

Jan Ciger added this info:
The Didaktik M has only 48kB of RAM + 16kB of ROM, not 80 nor 64 (it is the same as Kompakt. Kompakt has only floppy added + different ROM). I still have my M in a working order. The RAM was reduced from the Gama series, because the bank switching circuitry was introducing incompatibilities with the original Spectrum and people complained about that. There was also very little software which was able to use the extended memory (I remember just some copying tools and assembler) There is also a 5 1/4 external floppy drive for M (works with Kompakt too, AFAIK)

Technical Overview:
Year: 1990 [confirmed] CPU: Zilog Z80
RAM/ROM: 48kB / 16kB Clone: ZX-Spectrum
Colors: 8 Resolution: 256x192


Didaktik Kompakt

Didaktik Kompakt
The Didaktik Kompakt is the last and probably the best of the Didaktik machines made from 1991-1994. The main difference is the built in 3.5" floppy disk with a capacity of 720KB - it can be increased to 840 kB (even the +3 has only 350kB). The ROM contains a disk-operating extension.

Another interesting feature is the EuroAV-Connector (SCART). This connector allows the Kompakt to be connected to a color monitor or color TV. In both cases the videosignal is R-G-B level and so the picture quality is much better than with composite video.

The Didaktik Kompakt has built in parallel port and two joystick connectors with regular plugs.

According to Jan Ciger there were two versions of the Didaktik Kompakt:

  • Didaktik Kompakt (basic model) - 48kB of RAM, 3 1/2" floppy
  • Didaktik Kompakt (improved model) - 128kB of RAM, 3 1/2" floppy, the AY sound module, SCART video output (similar to Spectrum 128, but I am not sure whether it is compatible, probably not).
Technical Overview:
Year: 1991 [confirmed] CPU: Zilog Z80
RAM/ROM: 64kB / 32kB Clone: ZX-Spectrum
Colors: 8 Resolution: 256x192


Tesla: PMD 85, 85-1, 85-2, 85-2A, 85-3, Mato


Tesla PMD 85


Tesla PMD 85-1


Tesla PMD 85-2


Tesla PMD 85-2A


Tesla PMD 85-3


Tesla Mato


Tesla Mato (Box)

Tesla PMD 85
The Tesla PMD 85 is a czechoslovakian computer built in 1985 by Ing. Roman Kiss for the slovakian company "TESLA Bratislava". According to Michael Strassmann the name of the company has nothing to do with the famous inventor Nikola Tesla but stands for TEchnika SLAboprouda [low voltage technics]. TESLA was a quite popular company in czechoslovakia because a lot of everyday technical devices such as TV Sets (TESLA ORAVA), grammophone (TESLA LITOVEL) Radios (TESLA BRATISLAVA) and a lot more were made by TESLA - Michael Strassmann compares TESLA with the german Siemens AG. The Tesla PMD 85 was quite popular because it was used in schools.

According to [OCE] there are several different version of the PMD-85:

  • PMD 85 (original version),
  • PMD 85-1 (quite rare now because of the bad keyboard, first serial production, bad tape loading)
  • PMD 85-2 (better keyboard and completly new software, new G-Basic 2.0, better tape loading, new schematic circuit, 5 COLORS)
  • PMD 85-2A (new motherboard, new memory schematic circuit with free more 8kB for small routines),
  • PMD 85-2B (Memory expanded from 16kB to 64kB),
  • PMD 85-3 (new motherboard again, new TV PAL modulator, Czech and Slovak characters and russian azbuk version. If monitor 85-2 selected, fully compatible with PMDs 85-2x),
  • Mato (simplified version in a smaller case).

As the HCM was able to aquire quite a few Tesla PMDs there is a lot more to tell:

Looking at the PMDs only the original PMD85 and the Mato seem to different - WRONG! I now own about 6 PMDs and only 2 are excatly the same. They rest differs with regard to the power-supply and TV connector even if the model number is exactly the same.

  • jack of a PMD85-2A TV cable: You won't be able to find such a jack - Thanks again Mari�n for the cables!
  • powersupply cable of a PMD85-2A:
  • outlet jack of the powersupply:
  • detail view power and tv PMD 85-2:
  • detail view power and tv PMD 85-2A:
According to Hynek Med: "PMD 85-1 and -2 were not 100% incompatible, I remember that there was a Manic miner for 85-1 and Jet Set Willy for 85-2, but it wouldn't work on the other machine. PMD 85-1 had only clicked (keyboard out of microswitches), PMD 85-2 had a bit better keyboard, which beeped."

Rudolf Adamkovic wrote that "Tesla Mato it is not PMD85-2 in a smaller case but he is very simplified version, not compatible with PMD85-2. Software is not 100% compatibile with original PMD 85 and tape data format is too incompatible."

Technical Overview:
Year: 1985 [confirmed] CPU: MHB 8080A (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 48kB / 4kB Clone: none
Colors: 4 Resolution: 288 x 256


Tesla Ondra


Tesla Ondra (Box)

Tesla Ondra
According to [OCE] the Ondra was developed in Elstroj and produced by Tesla Liberec and later Tesla Blatna. Ondra was probably the most promissing czechoslovakian home/school micro of 80's. It was build around U880 processor (East Germany version of Z80) - the only peripherals possible to connect was the cassette player and the Centronics printer. The Ondra did not have a UHF-Output but only a Video-Out - an UHF-Modulator was sold separatly (thanks Martin Schotek for this infos).

According to Hynek Med: "funny thing about Ondra was the basic loaded from a casette, which had error recovery! It said "Vrat zpet, cteni-hotovo?" (Get back - reading-done?) which prompted for a keypress and you could rewind the tape back and load the wrong block again."

Technical Overview:
Year: 198? CPU: U880
RAM/ROM: 64kB / 4kB Clone: none
Colors: b/w Resolution: 320 x 255


Zbrojovka Brno: Consul 2717


Consul 2717


Consul 2717 (Logo)

Consul 2717
Jiri T. Dolezal send me an email with some background information about the Consul 2717:
"The Consul 2717 was manufactured by Zbrojovka Brno (Arsenal Brno in english - to illustrate main aim of this factory) for a short time in 1989 (and early 1990, then the production was stopped). It was delivered only for schools (but it is the same way, how other czechoslovak computers, like IQ-151, were distributed). It is compatible with Tesla PMD 85.2 with following changes:
  • Computer was built-in into monitor (like Macintosh) with professional keyboard.
  • Network available ("differential" - I think it means serial communication on TTL voltage).
  • New extra graphic mode - higher horizontal resolution, all 8 bits in byte are used as a bitmap (usually only 6 bits were used as bitmap, two bits were attributes /flash and bright, or colors on later PMD versions/).
  • No parallel interface built in, had connectors on processor-bus instead of it; parallel interface was part of "intelligent printer cable".
Changes in ROM:
  • possibility to boot from external ROM chip (used mainly to load printer drivers)
  • possibility to boot from floppy (CP/M)
  • login to network and boot from network (used to load Basic with network operations, redirected by the server to central discstation or printer queue; Basic-G in ROM had only tape operations).
  • With no external ROM, no discdrive and no network, computer boots to Basic-G as default, not into Monitor as PMD did (can be changed by keypress).

Technical Overview:
Year: 1989 CPU: MHB 8080A (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 32kB / 4kB Clone: Tesla PMD 85.2
Colors: 4 Resolution: 288 x 256


ZPA: IQ-151


Novy Bor IQ151


Novy Bor IQ151/64



Basic 6 Module



Module Connector

IQ-151
The IQ-151 was a school microcomputer made by ZPA Novy Bor. It has five expansion slots for modules. According to [OCE] these were the most common ones:
  • VIDEO [display],
  • BASIC [interpreter],
  • BASIC G [graphic Basic interpreter],
  • GRAFIK [256 x 512 graphics],
  • STAPER [printer],
  • MINIGRAF [plotter]
Besids thesemore common modules according to Dave there are some more exotic ones:
  • AMOS: "Autonomous Microcomputer Operating System"
  • MIKROS: CPM clone OS for the IQ
  • Pascal
According to Tomas Franke MIKROS was a CP/M clone developed in (East) Germany. It was slightly improved CP/M v2.2, nearly all CP/M software runs under it without any modifications. It was fully compatible with original CP/M 2.2 at the level of system services call and Bios routines.

It was used in almost all 8080 and Z80 based machines from Eastern Germany, in IQ151 and in many TNS machines from Slusovice. Here are som interstesing remarks from Dave about the IQ 151:

  • Sure they [the IQ151] were able to warm a cup of tee
  • Next thing what you could found was a 'custom-network'. Usually (as I remember our school class with IQ151s, but other schools were made pretty the same), every computer had it's own cassette player attached to it (slightly modified TESLA tape-deck - even after years these tape-decks are valuable for Hi-Fi people, because their quality was quite high). What I remember is that a teacher was able to load programs from his player to ALL IQ151 in the class and he was able to do this remotely from any IQ151 in class too. So he was able to explain something to student on student's comp and controll his own (teacher's) computer and it's tape-deck from student's place. I was really amazed by this.
  • Some output devices more: CONSUL 2112 or 2113 (typewriters, probably), and SESTYK (telex machine)
  • MINIGRAF was type of 0507, manufactured by ??? (Aritma, problably)
  • The tape-deck mostly used was probably TESLA M710A
  • The main suplier of programs for IQ-151 was Komenium.
ZPA made also IQ-150. It is older model of IQ-151 with blue design and without any graphics nor a graphics modul.

According to Hynek Med: "everything about IQ-151 is true. We even had a shared 8'' floppy over a network (FELAN - FEL is the name of the Faculty of electronics of Czech Technical University), the computers were connected using tose venerable 5-pin round gramohone connectors."

Technical Overview:
Year: 1983/84 CPU: MHB 8080A (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 32kB / 4kB Clone: -
Colors: b/w Resolution: 32-64 x 32-64 (text)


ZAVT: PP-01


ZVT PP-01


ZVT PP-01 (brown)

PP-01
According to [OCE] the PP-01 was built by a czechoslovakian company called ZVT (Zavody automatizace a vypocetni techniky). It was a small computer that runs Basic (ROM). It could be attached to a TV or a Monitor.

According to Jan Ciger there was also PP-03 (same as PP-01, but with color support) and PP-06 (basicaly an IBM PC clone, with 4MHz 8086 CPU)

Hynek Med added that "the PP-06 was a PC-XT clone with two 360k floppies (sometimes 20 MB MFM disk). I uses VUVT-DOS (a translation of MS-DOS), and an expantions bus which wasn't compatible with ISA."
Technical Overview:
Year: 198? CPU: MHB 8080 (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 64kB / 16kB Clone: -
Colors: 8 Resolution: 256 x 256


Tesla Eltos: SAPI 1


SAPI-1

SAPI 1
According to Dave the first version of the SAPI-1 had only 2k ROM (EPROM) and 2k RAM. A later version called SAPI-1Z was an enhanced version with 64 row display.

Jiri Tomas Dolezal send me a nice mail with a picture:
"The SAPI was a BIG steel rack for "eurocards" (simillar as for IQ-151, but bigger and without the plastic case). One of them holds a power-supply, one is for communication with tape unit, one holds RAM, one holds processor, one holds ROM or BIOS, one holds connection for 8" floppy, another for paper-tape reader, another as TV output...
Processors used were 8080 and (later, for use with CP/M) Z-80. ROMs - usually was used only BIOS (I remember only that command for tape loading was K_L), or it was replaced by ROM with Micro-Basic, Forth, or CP/M, so they were accessed directly and not via tape or floppy.

The most common keyboard was this membrane one (you have it allready), later I saw various keyboards made by Consul (more professional and with more keys than the membrane ANK-1) and an old terminal without inner electronics, connected using cca 40 wires to SAPI as a keyboard and television output. Output was in text mode with various attributes (flashing, underline, bright), but I heard about fine graphic card (but never seen it).

I've found in our family album a photo of SAPI-1 machines (Tesla, former Czechoslovakia).
Notice the two different keyboards - the small membrane board ANK-1 (you have it on your www pages) and bigger Consul 259.11 (needs different keyboard driver in ROM) with microswitches on the right side.
As monitor, black and white TV (with Video-IN added) was used (I cannot recognise, if it is Pluto or Merkur, but more probably it is Merkur). Notice the size of "microcomputer". The TV is placed just on the computer case."

Technical Overview:
Year: 198? CPU: Intel 8080A (2MHz)
RAM/ROM: 48kB / 16kB Clone: -
Colors: b/w Resolution: 40x20


MISC other infos, unsorted

TNS-HC



TNS HC 08



TNS HC 08 (PCB)


Hynek Med:
There was also some TNS computers, made in JZD Slusovice (very strange thing, a CO-OP farm, almost capitalist company inside communism, they made all sort of things as "associated production" originally meant to generate some work for the farmes so they produce something off the agricultural season), I recall:
  • TNS-HC (=Home Computer)
  • TNS-AT (PC AT Clone)
Some infos about the TMS-HC can be found here

In Yugoslavia, Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ with DELTA label over the ZX Spectrum+ was sold, and was fairly common in Czechoslovakia. It was rumored that a lot of Spectrum+ was bought by a Sinclair employee, when Sinclair went down.



Links: to other web-sites ...
  Sinclair Nostalgia Products
Ousmane Keita's page
Martin Schotek's page
Mal�mu virtu�lnemu m�zeu mal�ch po��ta�ov