History of the Wektor-06C computer: Soviet competition for the ZX Spectrum

A few months ago, at the request of readers, I published an article about the Soviet computer [https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic4058321.html#21109811]Agat[/url] , which was allegedly developed as a clone of the American Apple. No less interesting were the original Soviet and Russian inventions, although they did not enjoy commercial success. In this article I want to talk about an original design I owned. Unfortunately, as I did not keep it, I am using pictures of lovers of this device with their permission.

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History of the success of the Wektor-06C computer .
While the ZX Spectrum reigned supreme in the Eastern European home computer market, things were pretty sad in the Soviet and post-Soviet markets. The planned economy was not keeping up with Western advances in that field. Big companies were not very interested in producing cheap equipment for civilians. This was only possible on behalf of the authorities. Although there was no shortage of enthusiasts among Soviet engineers, insisting on developing the production of domestic equipment.
For example, at the Sczetmash company in Chisinau, Donat Temirazov and Aleksandr Sokolov developed the Wektor-06C (Вектор-06Ц) computer in 1986. The equipment received the highest prize at an all-Soviet fair and was noticed by the USSR Deputy Minister of Radio Industry. The latter, in turn, ordered the mass production of the Wektor-06C in Chisinau and in other cities of the USSR, where factories linked to the Ministry of Radio Industry (actually these were defence industry companies) were located.

My first computer in 1991 was just a Wektor-06C. I don't remember at what price I bought it. At that time the exchange rate of the Soviet currency was unstable and prices in shops were very strange. The state-designated one, according to some sources, was 750 roubles. That's three engineer's salaries, having the previous year as a reference point.

Characteristics of the hardware .
Like most other Soviet computers of the period, the Wektor-06C was equipped with the KR580VM80A processor, the equivalent of the Intel 8080, but it ran at a slightly increased clock frequency of 3 MHz (instead of 2.5 MHz). As standard, the Vector-06C had 64 KB of RAM, of which 8 to 32 KB could be used for video memory (respectively, user memory is 32 to 56 KB). In contrast, the size of the fixed memory was 512 bytes or 2 KB and contained only the program loading from the tape recorder, disk ignition or external ROM. Any other program, including BASIC, was loaded from a cassette or other external source.

The three-channel sound synthesiser was made on the KR580VI53 chip (a programmable timer chip, a Soviet copy of the Intel 8253). The processor and verb in this computer were the more complex components. The rest was realised on simpler chips with small-scale integration. Therefore, the Vector-06C contained almost 100 ICs (from 83 to 97 depending on the keyboard type). For comparison: Commodore 64C - 16 pcs, ZX Spectrum 128К - 29, MSX2 - 37. Admittedly, the Soviet copy of ZX Spectrum included a bit more, because this country lacked ULA (Uncommitted Logic Array) type circuits. Now, it can be said that this solution had some advantages - ease of repair and availability of components, and Soviet quality was not exemplary, hence fault elimination was not uncommon. As a result, Vectors are still used by enthusiasts today and they have no problems with repairs, which cannot be said of owners of the original ZX Spectrum or Amiga, even though the quality of their workmanship and the parts used was much higher.

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Utility and practicality: personal experience with the Wektor-06C computer .
In the early 1990s, the device in question was no longer very popular, as various ZX Spectrum clones appeared on the market, for which there was a plethora of all kinds of software, mainly games. I, on the other hand, tried to use the equipment for work (I set up my own business) and correspondence. Therefore, my first peripheral device for this computer (apart from a TV and a tape recorder) was a printer. First, of Soviet manufacture: very large, noisy, in a crooked casing of dirty white plastic; however, as far as the mechanics were concerned, it worked flawlessly. Later, I bought a second-hand one, made in... It was smaller in size, looked great, but after a couple of years of work its gear wheel broke. As far as I remember, I managed to fix it with a wire wrapped around the wheel leg.... Although not for long.

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The problem with connecting this peripheral was that the Wektor had a non-standard connector for Centronics interface printers, for this reason I had to make the cables myself. The Vector had some kind of software for text editing and printing, but I can't even remember the name. Another challenge was preserving the results of the work and then reusing them, as this was done via a tape recorder. After a couple of years I managed to buy a disk station driver and a station. Work became more comfortable. Especially since the manufacturer of this driver also developed (or adapted) the CP/M operating system for Vector.

A year later, after Wektor, I bought a ZX Spectrum clone of amateur production. By then there were a lot of small workshops producing different variations of this computer. Mine was probably the simplest. For personal purposes it was not very useful. It had an inconvenient keyboard for typing and no connector for peripherals (only for joysticks). It was rather suitable for games, but for me it was of educational interest, as I independently added a serial port to it, a light pen, I even worked out a wiring diagram for another keyboard.

ZX Spectrum vs Wektor-06C .
Having owned two 8-bit computers, I had the chance to compare their capabilities and practicality. I will honestly say that I found the Vector to be more useful. At the very least, it was better suited to text writing. Other users praise it for its much better graphic and musical characteristics. I didn't really care for it, but on the 12-inch screen of the black-and-white Electronica MS-6105 (a Soviet copy of the DEC VR201) the text took up almost all of it, which for the ZX Spectrum was only 50%. The Vector's video resolution was 256×256 (or even 512×256 pixels with a palette of 2 or 4 colours and 1024×256 in black and white mode). As for the ZX Spectrum, this figure was only 256×192 with a palette of 16 colours.
According to amateurs of this computer, its authors paid more attention to graphics and sound. And they achieved, in my opinion, the almost impossible with this amount of memory. For example, the Vector palette had as many as 256 colours for a 256×256 static picture or 16 colours for a moving picture.

Evidence of better graphic characteristics than other computers of the time can be seen in this video:
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Summary .
Unfortunately, the Vector-06C did not achieve the popularity of the ZX Spectrum as it was only sold in the Soviet Union and Russia, even more so at a time not conducive to the development of games and other software. The ZX Spectrum enjoyed international recognition. In almost every country where it was sold or arrived by other means, some software was developed. In my opinion, the ZX Spectrum owes its popularity to the amount of software.
I was always sceptical of Soviet inventions, but at the same time delighted by the possibilities of this computer. I worked with the Moscow company Koman-info. I even developed a scanner for photographic film based on a monitor and photodiode, and a programme to check the speed of calculations.
In the next article I will give more details about the implementation and control of the Wektor-06C memory. In my opinion, this is a really interesting solution.