Re: Interesting programming description for bank selection

From: HÁRSFALVI Levente <publicmailbox_at_harsfalvi.net>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:08:35 +0200
Message-ID: <5357AD43.2020000@harsfalvi.net>
Hi!

On 2014-04-23 11:16, Michał Pleban wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> Marko Mäkelä wrote:
> 
>> By the way: it has worked also the other way around. I have heard that
>> the Soviet Union used Metric 2.5mm spacing on IC cases instead of 0.1"
>> or 2.54mm, and that they used metric scale on aircraft altimeters while
>> the globally established convention is feet. I would guess that this was
>> deliberate, to oppose the "imperialistic" system. :)
> 
> I don't believe it to be true. I have seen lots of Soviet chips (like
> 8080 clones, 2732 compatible EPROMs etc.) and they fit standard sockets
> perfectly. And with the 40 pin ones, you would have 0.8mm difference,
> quite noticeable.

Well, then they might have produced both. One of my friends has talked
me about a Soviet i8255 clone that he could in no way use, as the chip
just didn't fit the socket ;-). Back in the early '90s, when he started
building circuits, standard MSI components (and above) were still hard
to come by / expensive here, so young techies like him just cooked from
what they could obtain (thus the Soviet stuff). I've never met those
Soviet MSI clones myself (though, even I should have some K155***s
packed away somewhere at home |-))) ).

> This difference in measurement systems had profound effects, however,
> when Soviets tried to copy American technology, because the sizes of
> screws and other standard parts were different and it was generally not
> easy (nor feasible) to produce parts with imperial sizes. That
> contributed to a general unreliability of Soviet systems (such as Tu-4
> bomber which was nothing more than than a reverse-engineered Boeing B-29).

Yeah, just similarly to the Li-2 (a slightly modified variant of the
DC-3, built under license), which had to be heavier than its original
counterpart, due to the use of thicker (metric) sheet aluminum that they
had.


Levente


       Message was sent through the cbm-hackers mailing list
Received on 2014-04-23 13:00:04

Archive generated by hypermail 2.2.0.