CIFA (computer)
CIFA is the acronym for „Calculatorul Institutului de Fizică Atomică” (en. "Atomic Physics Institute Computer", the first Romanian [[[computer]]], built in 1957 under the guidance of [[[Victor Toma]]].
The experimental first-generation model CIFA-1 was reproduced in small numbers both in the original variant with [[[vacuum tubes]]] as well as in two variants using [[[transistors]]]: CIFA-10X and CET 500.
History
The logic designs for CIFA-1, started in 1953, was presented at the International Symposium in [[[Dresda]]] in 1955, and the prototype, which used 1500 vacuum tubes, cylindrical magnet memory and machine code programming, was finished in 1957. Later CIFA computers were CIFA-2 (800 vacuum tubes) in 1959, CIFA-3 (for the Bucharest University's Computer Center) in 1961 and CIFA-4 in 1962.
[[[VITOSHA]]] was the first bulgarian computer, built in 1962-1963 on the basis of a cultural agreement between the Romanian and Bulgarian Academies of Science, was based on CIFA-3.
Other Romanian computers of the era are [[[MECIPT]]] and [[[CETA]]] at the Timișoara Polytechnical Institute and DACICC at the Cluj Computing Institute.
CIFA Computer Characteristics
| Computer Model | CIFA-1 | CIFA-4 | CIFA-101 | CIFA-102 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1957 | 1962 | 1962 | 1964 |
| Number of computers produced | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Semiconductive diodes | 2500 | 3000 | ||
| Vacuum Tubes | 800 | 350 | ||
| Computing speed | 50 op/s | 50 - 2000 op/s | ||
| Internal Memory type | tambur 50 rot/s | tambur 50 rot/s | ||
| Internal memory type | cylinder 50 rot/s | cylinder 50 rot/s | ||
| Internal memory capacity | 512 cuvinte × 4 biți | 4 k cuvinte × 4 biți | ||
| Peripherals | • punch card reader 15 caracters/s • writer 8 caracters/s |
• punch card reader 15 caracters/s • writer 8 caracters/s |
• punch card reader 100 caracters/s • writer 8 caracters/s | |
| Number of instructions | 16 | 32 | ||
| Word length | 31 | 32 | ||
| Word processing mode | parallel | serial | ||
| Power utilization | 5 kW | 1 kW | ||