17 Oct
2022
17 Oct
'22
3:40 p.m.
On 10/17/2022 2:57 PM, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
On 10/17/22 14:47, Joshua Rice via cctalk wrote:
In the mid 1980's I went to inspect a complete VAX 780 that had been
confiscated by the US Gov't and was to be auctioned off. This was in the
Wash DC area and the computer was configured for 50Hz power and was
destined for South Africa. Its true destination was somewhere else,
probably Russia. It didn't make sense that the auction was open to the
public, but the equipment was export restricted.
Hi all,
After some discussion on reddit about russian PDP-11 clones, i made
the (perhaps erronous) claim that the PDP series in general was
cloned by the Soviets.
I’m aware that there was a lot of QBUS/LSI PDP-11 clones, and depite
poor documentation, there is significant evidence of PDP-8 clones.
Also, depite not strictly a “PDP”, the VAX series was also cloned.
I am not aware of any VAX clones but during the height of the
cold war real VAX were frequently illegally moved to the USSR
via India who had no problems with violating their agreements
with their allies.
Just like someone in the US bought a copy of BSD Unix for the
VAX and it was known to have been smuggled out of the country
in a diplomatic pouch via the Russian Embassy in DC.
bill