BESM
Encyclopedia
BESM is the name of a series of Soviet mainframe
computers built in 1950-1960s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina" ("Большая Электронно-Счётная Машина"), literally "Large Electronically Computing Machine". The series began as a successor to MESM ("Malaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina", "Small Electronically Computing Machine"). MESM was built between 1948 and 1951 and was one of the first electronic computers produced in the continental Europe.
The BESM series included six models.
s. At the time of completion, it was the fastest computer in Europe. The floating point numbers were represented as 39-bit words: 32 bits for the numeric part, 1 bit for sign, and 1 + 5 bits for the exponent. It was capable of representing numbers in the range 10−9 – 1010. BESM-1 had 1024 words of read/write memory using ferrite cores, and 1024 words of read-only memory based on semiconducting diodes. It also had external storage: 4 magnetic tape units of 30,000 words each, and fast magnetic drum storage with a capacity of 5120 words and an access rate of 800 words/second. The computer was capable of performing 8–10 K
Flops
. The energy consumption was approximately 30 kW
, not accounting for the cooling systems.
BESM-2 also used vacuum tube
s.
BESM-3M and BESM-4 were built using transistors. Their architecture was similar to that of the M-20 and M-220 series. The word size was 45 bits. 30 BESM-4 machines were built. BESM-4 was used to create the first ever computer animation.
. The design was completed in 1966. Production started in 1968 and continued for the following 20 years.
Like its predecessors, the original BESM-6 was transistor-based (however, the version used in the 1980s as a component of the Elbrus
supercomputer was built with integrated circuits). The machine's 48-bit processor
ran at 10 MHz clock speed and featured two instruction pipelines, separate for the control and arithmetic units, and a data cache of 16 48-bit words. The system achieved performance of 1 M
Flops
. The fastest supercomputer at the time, the CDC 6600
, achieved 3 MFlops utilizing one central and ten peripheral processing units.
The system memory was word-addressable using 15-bit addresses. The maximum addressable memory space was thus 32K words (192K bytes
). A virtual memory
system allowed to expand this up to 128K words (768K bytes
).
The BESM-6 was widely used in USSR
in 1970s for various computation and control tasks. During the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
the processing of Soyuz orbit parameters was accomplished by a BESM-6 based system in 1 minute. The same computation for the Apollo was carried out by the American side in 30 minutes.
A total of 355 of these machines were built. Production ended in 1987.
As the first Soviet computer with an installed base that was large for the time, the BESM-6 gathered a dedicated developer community. Over the years several operating system
s and compilers for programming languages such as Fortran
, Algol and Pascal
were developed.
A modification of the BESM-6 based on integrated circuits, with 2-3 times higher performance than the original machine, was produced in the 1980s under the name Elbrus-1K2 as a component of the Elbrus supercomputer
.
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
computers built in 1950-1960s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina" ("Большая Электронно-Счётная Машина"), literally "Large Electronically Computing Machine". The series began as a successor to MESM ("Malaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina", "Small Electronically Computing Machine"). MESM was built between 1948 and 1951 and was one of the first electronic computers produced in the continental Europe.
The BESM series included six models.
BESM-1
BESM-1, originally referred to as simply the BESM or BESM AN ("BESM Akademii Nauk", BESM of the Academy of Sciences), was completed in 1952. Only one BESM-1 machine was built. The machine used approximately 5,000 vacuum tubeVacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s. At the time of completion, it was the fastest computer in Europe. The floating point numbers were represented as 39-bit words: 32 bits for the numeric part, 1 bit for sign, and 1 + 5 bits for the exponent. It was capable of representing numbers in the range 10−9 – 1010. BESM-1 had 1024 words of read/write memory using ferrite cores, and 1024 words of read-only memory based on semiconducting diodes. It also had external storage: 4 magnetic tape units of 30,000 words each, and fast magnetic drum storage with a capacity of 5120 words and an access rate of 800 words/second. The computer was capable of performing 8–10 K
SI prefix
The International System of Units specifies a set of unit prefixes known as SI prefixes or metric prefixes. An SI prefix is a name that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a decadic multiple or fraction of the unit. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol...
Flops
FLOPS
In computing, FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating-point calculations, similar to the older, simpler, instructions per second...
. The energy consumption was approximately 30 kW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
, not accounting for the cooling systems.
BESM-2 also used vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s.
BESM-3M and BESM-4 were built using transistors. Their architecture was similar to that of the M-20 and M-220 series. The word size was 45 bits. 30 BESM-4 machines were built. BESM-4 was used to create the first ever computer animation.
- EPSILON (a macro language with high level features including strings and lists, developed by Andrey ErshovAndrey ErshovAcademician Andrey Petrovych Ershov was a Soviet computer scientist, notable as a pioneer in systems programming and programming language research. He was responsible for the languages ALPHA and Rapira, AIST-0 the first Soviet time-sharing system, electronic publishing system RUBIN, and MRAMOR, a...
at NovosibirskNovosibirskNovosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
in 1967) was used to implement ALGOL 68ALGOL 68ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...
on the M-220.
BESM-6
The BESM-6 was arguably the most well-known and influential model of the series designed at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer EngineeringLebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering
Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering is a Russian research institution. It used to be a Soviet Academy of Sciences organization in Soviet times...
. The design was completed in 1966. Production started in 1968 and continued for the following 20 years.
Like its predecessors, the original BESM-6 was transistor-based (however, the version used in the 1980s as a component of the Elbrus
Elbrus (computer)
The Elbrus is a line of Soviet and Russian computer systems developed by Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering.In 1992 a spin-off company Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies was created and continued development....
supercomputer was built with integrated circuits). The machine's 48-bit processor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
ran at 10 MHz clock speed and featured two instruction pipelines, separate for the control and arithmetic units, and a data cache of 16 48-bit words. The system achieved performance of 1 M
SI prefix
The International System of Units specifies a set of unit prefixes known as SI prefixes or metric prefixes. An SI prefix is a name that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a decadic multiple or fraction of the unit. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to the unit symbol...
Flops
FLOPS
In computing, FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating-point calculations, similar to the older, simpler, instructions per second...
. The fastest supercomputer at the time, the CDC 6600
CDC 6600
The CDC 6600 was a mainframe computer from Control Data Corporation, first delivered in 1964. It is generally considered to be the first successful supercomputer, outperforming its fastest predecessor, IBM 7030 Stretch, by about three times...
, achieved 3 MFlops utilizing one central and ten peripheral processing units.
The system memory was word-addressable using 15-bit addresses. The maximum addressable memory space was thus 32K words (192K bytes
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
). A virtual memory
Virtual memory
In computing, virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels. This technique virtualizes a computer architecture's various forms of computer data storage , allowing a program to be designed as though there is only one kind of memory, "virtual" memory, which...
system allowed to expand this up to 128K words (768K bytes
Kilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
).
The BESM-6 was widely used in USSR
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1970s for various computation and control tasks. During the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
the processing of Soyuz orbit parameters was accomplished by a BESM-6 based system in 1 minute. The same computation for the Apollo was carried out by the American side in 30 minutes.
A total of 355 of these machines were built. Production ended in 1987.
As the first Soviet computer with an installed base that was large for the time, the BESM-6 gathered a dedicated developer community. Over the years several operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s and compilers for programming languages such as Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, Algol and Pascal
Pascal (programming language)
Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...
were developed.
A modification of the BESM-6 based on integrated circuits, with 2-3 times higher performance than the original machine, was produced in the 1980s under the name Elbrus-1K2 as a component of the Elbrus supercomputer
Elbrus (computer)
The Elbrus is a line of Soviet and Russian computer systems developed by Lebedev Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering.In 1992 a spin-off company Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies was created and continued development....
.
See also
- Sergei Alekseyevich LebedevSergei Alekseyevich LebedevSergey Alexeyevich Lebedev was a Soviet scientist in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science, and designer of the first Soviet computers....
- Lev Korolyov
- List of Soviet computer systems
- History of computer hardware in Soviet Bloc countriesHistory of computer hardware in Soviet Bloc countriesThe history of computing hardware in the former Soviet Bloc is somewhat different from that of the Western world. As a result of the CoCom embargo, computers could not be imported in a large scale from capitalist countries...
External links
- Pioneers of Soviet Computing
- BESM-6 Nostalgia Page
- Back in the U.S.S.R. A museum curator suggests Russia's BESM supercomputer may have been superior to the USA's supercomputers during the early stages of the Cold War.