BYTE: Part 1 (A Moldovan Speccy Clone)
81This is my first Eastern Bloc computer, a ZX Spectrum clone from Moldova called BYTE (or also ELEKTRONIKA VI-201, or ‘PARUS’/VI-202 ... not sure). It was produced in a town called Tighina (or "Bender" by the Russians).
This is just an initial look around. I've already made a power cable (banana plugs to DIN) but need to finish off the video cable (RGB output, DIN connector).
Not sure entirely when it was made ... the case and manual state "2/92" whereas the chips appear to have datecodes in 1993 and 1994. The manual also refers to the SSRM ... Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova ... which dissolved in 1991.
It appears to be the second iteration they produced - the first model looked a lot more like the ZX Spectrum and had more logic chips, whereas this second iteration incorporates a ULA.
It draws about 400mA at the moment, so hopefully is working.
Looks to be pretty simple:
[1] Has an East German Z80 clone called a UB880 - interestingly, they used a 2.5mm pin spacing instead of "imperialist" 2.54mm (0.1") ... ;)
[2] Installation of the capacitors is interesting ... little "space invaders"
[3] The KA1515HM1216 (or ULA216) is a Soviet ULA
[4] The mask ROM is a КР1013РЕ1 (KR1013RE1) containing Didaktik Skalica firmware
[5] The 64KB of RAM uses eight КР565РУ5 (KR565RU5) 64K x 1b DRAM, equivalent to 4164 (specifically MCM6664 and MK4164)
[6] The joystick is referred to as a "manual manipulator" (манипулятор ручноӣ) and appears to be model "Vesta IM-01" (Веста ИМ-01)
Input sockets on the back are DINs all around!
Video/sound is a 7-pin
Cassette I/O is a 5-pin
Joystick/manual manipulator is a 7-pin
Power is a 5-pin
My plans are:
[1] Finish the RGB cable - done (part 3 & part 4)
[2] Make a USB-to-DIN power cable - done! (part 2)
[3] Rehouse the original PSU in a new case
[4] Make a DE9-to-DIN cable to connect a normal joystick
[5] Yet another DIN cable for tape playback/recording
[6] Oh, see if it works!
Part 2 is here:
https://youtu.be/0lTyX5xlZF4
I've scanned and uploaded the manual (in Russian) here:
https://archive.org/details/byte-computer-moldova-1992
This computer is referred to in Alessandro Grussu's "Spectrumpedia":
https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/zx/Spectrumpedia(English)-Volume1.pdf
A writeup (in Spanish) about this machine:
https://retroordenadoresorty.blogspot.com/2020/10/byte-computer-clone-de-la-urss-moldavia.html
Some description of the ROM (Russian) incl. pinout:
http://zxbyte.ru/kr1013re1.htm