ALU Robik () was a Soviet and Ukrainian ZX Spectrum clone produced between July 1989 and January 1998 by the NPO "Rotor" in Cherkasy. Over 70 000 was produced, while few millions was planned.
The Robik is a monoblock computer in the keyboard formfactor, with an external power supply block, permanently connected by wire.
Older cases produced by the SELTO, and newer produced by the NPO "Rotor" (on the back side of keyboard case there is a logo of manufacturer).
It came in four versions, with only minor changes made for Russian internationalization and localization. The hardware remained largely unchanged, but cheaper parts were used for each version. The fourth version had the new addition of a single integrated circuit. This version did not sell well because by then the main market for the Robik was hardware enthusiasts and this design did not allow for modifications.
Robik had two EPROM chips. There are two languages in the M2764AF-1 chip from ST, which can be switched by shortcut keys.
The computer came with 55 keys,. It had the possibility to switch between Latin and Russian fonts.
The letters on switches caps were written using laser beam technology, as a result labels represented as outlined symbols (in the last version stamp printing used for place labels as filled symbols instead).
The keyboard buttons are based on the PKM 1B () reed switches, instead of copper or iron contact plates.Initially, the PKM 1B switches produced by the "" (Ukraine) was used, but original production of switches discontinued during the production of the Robik, and the NPO "Rotor" launched its own production line for the PKM 1B switches instead.
The Robik had four ports on the back side: <code>ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ</code> ("Video"), <code>RGB</code>, <code>JS-K</code>, <code>â¯_â¯</code> ("Tape"). It had no edge connector and video output was analog RGB on a 5-pin DIN or digital TTL on an 8-pin DIN.
Inside the case there was a male 64-pin connector that could be mapped to the standard edge connector.
The Robick supports to be connected to either monochrome MDA/Hercules or color EGA monitor (via <code>ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ</code> out), or color TV (via <code>RGB</code> out). For the <code>RGB</code> out, there are adjusters for each of color channel (R, G and B), as well as overall color invertor toggle â all are accessible via the marked access holles on the bottom side of computer.
There was no composite video and all I/O ports were 5- and 7-pin DINs.
When writing, the screen memory to the TV/monitor screen did not begin from the top left of the border, but instead began from border right under paper. This meant that most multicolor effects and some games did not work correctly. Errors in the ROM have been fixed and Cyrillic letters were also inserted.
The keyboard matrix was extended from five keys in eight rows to five keys in nine rows to allow for more buttons. A reset could be performed by pressing two buttons.
NPO "Rotor" produced an external music sound device for the Robik.
Robik has no internal mass storage and uses cassette tapes as an external storage.
It requires to connect cassette deck via <code>â¯_â¯</code> ("Tape") port, for read and write data.
There was also an external floppy disk drive produced for the Robik by NPO "Rotor", to use diskettes instead of tapes.
There is the <code>JS-K</code> port for connecting joysticks via Kempston Interface.
Printer has been developed for the Robik by NPO "Rotor".
The Robik distribution includes a cassette tape with seven programs:
There is a number of the Robik computers stored in various museums and private collections around the world:
ã 2017, the "LandauCenter" at the National University of Kharkiv organized an exhibition of the 1980s computers. Exposition included the Robik from the Software and Computer Museum collection.
Since the end of production, there are a lot of the Robik computers present on the secondary market.