Didaktik M

The Didaktik M had cursor keys, a reset key and Sinclair and Kempston compatible joystick ports. It uses the Ангстрем Т34ВГ1 (Angstrem T34VG1) ULA. The machine ran at 4 MHz. Since the pixel clock is twice the CPU clock at 8 MHz, rather than the 7 MHz pixel clock of the ZX Spectrum, the screen was squared in appearance.

In 1990, the head of the microprocessor department at the Research Institute of Fine Technology (NIITT) in Zelenograd, P.R. Mashevich, was on a business trip to Slovakia and saw a Didaktik Gama computer at a store. At Mashevich’s request, the head of the enterprise where he was sent to, arranged a visit to Didaktik Skalica. He proposed replacing the medium integration IC’s used in it with one semi-custom LSI. Didaktik’s management greeted the proposal without enthusiasm, doubting its feasibility, but agreed to try using a LSI. The controller replaced 15 IC’s in the ZX Spectrum, including the ULA, significantly reducing the cost of the computer. As a result, Didaktik Skalica became a stable consumer of products from the Angstrem (formerly NIITT) plant for a number of years.

The T34VG1 chip contained a significant part of the video controller circuit of a ZX Spectrum compatible computer. Its use drastically reduced the number of chips to about 15, including the CPU, ROM, eight memory chips for 48 KB models and interfaces.