Talk:Ural (computer)
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Memory technology
[edit]I do not think the Ural-1 used ferrite core memory. I've seen a couple references (such as "Roads to Space: An Oral History of the Soviet Space Program") which claim it used a 1024 word magnetic drum memory.
- Apparently the Ural-2 user core, statement updated. Peter Flass (talk) 03:29, 27 January 2018 (UTC)
Hardware performance
[edit]Ural-1 to Ural-4 were 1st generation vacuum tube based computers with much similarity in hardware and technology used. But their performance and arithmetic details differs much from model to model and cannot be described in single statement. Ural-1 uses fixed point arithmetic (not floating point) and performs 100 instructions per second. Even for 1950s vacuum tube technological level this value was extremely slow. But that caused by the usage of magnetic drum as main memory, (not external memory as usual). Magnetic drum and 100 IPS made computer cheap and simple and it was 1st mass-produced soviet computer therefore. Ural-2 and Ural-4 used both fixed point and floating point arithmetic and ferrite-core memory, allowing much higher performance.