Made in the 1960s, this silent Russian film (actually -- it is a sound film but we have not yet been able to make a transfer of the magnetic sound, hope to do so soon) shows a demonstration of a Soviet punchcard computer system and other computers. These appear to include the ES EVM, one of a series of clones of IBM's System/360 and System/370 mainframes, released in the Comecon countries under the initiative of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Production continued until 1998. The total number of ES EVM mainframes produced was more than 15,000.
The film also includes footage of an exhibition starting at 8:40, of a mainframe computer that included a typewriter system.
Footage of earlier computers is also seen, including what might be the Strela computer at 57 seconds. The Strela computer (Russian: ЭВМ Стрела, arrow) was the first mainframe computer manufactured serially in the Soviet Union, beginning in 1953.
This first-generation computer had 6200 vacuum tubes and 60,000 semiconductor diodes. The Strela's speed was 2000 operations per second. Its floating-point arithmetics was based on 43-bit words with a signed 35-bit mantissa and a signed 6-bit exponent. Operative Williams tube memory (RAM) was 2048 words. It also had read-only semiconductor diode memory for programs. Data input was from punched cards or magnetic tape. Data output was to magnetic tape, punched cards or wide printer. The last version of Strela used a 4096-word magnetic drum, rotating at 6000 rpm.
We could certainly use help of experts in identifying the various computer systems shown in the film! Please leave information for us in the comments section below.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
