Article Index

Red Calculators by Kenton Green The history of Soviet hand-held electronic calculators from a collector's perspective. Soviet Calculators History by Sergei Frolov This article is devoted to the irreplaceable assistants in our life - calculators. The history of occurrence of soviet calculators, their features and interesting opportunities of separate models is described. Several versions of the article exist, including a machine-translated one (from the original Russian) on this site. The link above is to the best English version. Ballad of Igor & Vlad In my search for calculators from the former Soviet Union, I have made several Russian friends. Two of these in particular have been helping me out heaps. Igor in Moscow, and Vlad in Saratov. In an effort to find calculators, I posted over 1000 emails to Russia. I received about 30 replies in all, but only two followed up with further emails. Yes, Igor and Vlad! Russian Power ...some of the batteries, transformers and other power-related items which are associated with calculators from the former Soviet Union. Some of these items are quite alien to western eyes. Factory Markings It is surmised that the logos shown on various machines and power sources indicate the factory in which a device was made. Display Technology by Rick Furr All about the technology used for various displays in Soviet and Western machines! Hacking! It was not uncommon for Soviet calculators to be modified by their owners. Need more functions? ... add the hardware yourself! Here are some funny, and even bizarre, stories about calculator modifications. Books Much of the information about the machines you see on this site comes from the many Soviet books about calculators. Some of the models are known only from their mention in the books shown here. Acknowledgements This site would not exist, but for the generous contributions of these people. Without their hard work, and willingness to share, the site would be a much lesser thing.

The journey of the big numbers by Gregory Escov About the various "big numbers" that you can get on your MK54-compatible calculators - that is, the numbers that can not be displayed properly and, according to documentation, can not even exist. But, as you see, there's quite a lot of stuff you can do with bignums... Pseudo-Writing Mode by Gregory Escov ... here I'll describe a rather special mode that you could get your calculator in. That mode seems ideally suited for the creation of strange hexadecimal strings. And besides, its very existence is quite unbelievable... unless you try for yourself! Sergei's Collection by Sergei Frolov An amazing collection, and it is for sale! Have a look, drool a bit, and then contact Sergei Frolov directly if you just have to have it. Undocumented Features by Sergei Frolov Undocumented and interesting features of Soviet calculators. How to Calculate on the b3-34 by Sergei Frolov Here is in brief told how to work with the calculator B3-34, its analogues MK-54, MK-56, and also MK-61 and MK-52. From materials in the magazines "Science and Life". Soviet Calculator - Riddle by Sergei Frolov Most remarkable is that for generation of the special videomessages "the ship above the seen party of the moon" the undocumented features of the calculator were used... Elektronika MK-85 Page by Gregory Escov Perhaps, the most advanced Russian/Soviet handheld calculator that ever hit the markets. There were rumors about MK-87 (that was supposed to combine calculator and notebook/databank features), and I have seen a prototype of MK-90 myself, but, still, MK-85 is the most advanced thing that I ever saw on the shelves. The description of MK-61 keyboard by Gregory Escov Here I describe all the keys on MK-61 keyboard (other keyboards are very much like this one), and what those keys do in combination with other keys.