Two YouTubers restore a Soviet computer that survived the nuclear power plant explosion
Although almost four decades have passed since the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, it continues to arouse the interest of millions of curious people around the world. Thus, such is the impact of this event on today’s society that it has inspired the creation of titles such as STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl or even the development of such successful series as Chernobyl , the popular HBO series. And, as a result of this interest, a family from Slovakia decided to create the Chornobyl Family channel , a space on YouTube in which they rescue objects from Chernobyl to restore them and show how they worked.
Thanks to this initiative, users have been able to learn about some of the most interesting devices used in Chernobyl. In their latest video, as reported by the Tom’s Hardware portal , the YouTubers have managed to recover a Soviet computer from four decades ago, an Intel and Microsoft clone that they used in the area for tasks of all kinds. And, surprisingly, not only have they recovered it, but they have worked tirelessly to restore it and we have been able to see how a Soviet PC with almost four decades behind it works.
There were only 80,000 units worldwide.
As many will know by now, the Soviet Union could not import Western technology. For this reason, they blatantly cloned aspects as important as the Intel 8086 processors and the MS-DOS operating system, two aspects that were recreated under the names ES1841 and alphaDOS . With these as a base, the Soviets could install smuggling applications and take advantage of Western creations, but for this it was necessary, as we already indicated, to carry out the aforementioned clones of products created outside the Soviet Union.
As reported in the video, the computer that they managed to rescue is an extremely rare piece, since only 80,000 units were manufactured . Unfortunately for devotees of technological history, most have been destroyed, but this family has managed to restore a PC that came into their hands and they have allowed us to see curiosities such as the use of a black background and yellow text, a different color than usual . green or white. Additionally, as an additional note, they emphasize that the processor has 5 MHz speed and 512 KB of memory , two units well below current minimum standards.