Poisk (computer)

Poisk (Russian: Поиск, "The Search") is an IBM-compatible computer built by KPO Electronmash (НПО «Электронмаш») in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR during the Soviet era. It is based on the K1810VM88 microprocessor, a clone of the Intel 8088. Developed since 1987 and released in 1989, it was the most common IBM-compatible computer in the Soviet Union. The basic version did not include an expansion module for parallel or serial ports for connecting a printer, mouse or other devices. The computer had 128 KB (hardware versions 1.0, 1.01, 1.02, 1.03 and 1.05) or 512 KB of RAM (versions 1.04 and 1.06), and displayed CGA graphics. Unusual for an IBM-compatible computer, Poisk utilities cartridges for expanding the system's capabilities in lieu of traditional internal expansion slots found in most similar systems. Despite using CGA-like graphical video modes and 8088-compatible processor running at 5 Mhz, it was not fully IBM-compatible, lacking the Motorola 6845 display and the Intel 8237 DMA controllers, and its performance lagged behind the IBM XT due to the emulation of the alphanumeric modes using NMI and sharing RAM between CPU and display. There were three versions of this computer: Poisk, Poisk-2 and Poisk-3. The machine entered mass production in 1991, just before the Soviet collapse, and production output in the early 1990s reached several tens of thousands units a year.