Fantastic peek across the Iron Curtain
For Replica of single-board computer PMI-80 (KIT)
I assembled this kit across three sessions. I used the keypad as an opportunity to learn how to use a hot air gun to solder SMT parts. During the process, I melted two of the keys. Totally my fault, but I did have to source some new keys to have a fully working board. I also had only a vague idea about how to power this device, since 8080 chips have a very specific power-on and power-off sequence that you must follow to avoid torching the chip. Thankfully Tomas also makes a separate USB-C-based power supply which works great.
After assembly, the machine booted up correctly and I was able to run the seven-byte test program successfully. I haven’t explored the documentation fully, but I expect to have many hours of fun exploring the 1KiB of the MONITOR program, as well as coming up with my own experiments to install in the breadboard area and the second ROM socket. It seems like there’s a tape deck I/O capability, but I haven’t figured out how to make that work (or how to attach the included plug that I think is intended for the tape player). Would love to have more-complete documentation and more example programs.
As an American, I’ve had experience with Intel and Zilog machines, so this is a fun way to experience a bit of personal computing history from the Soviet perspective!
