Brand: Арсенал (Arsenal)
Model: Компаньон 2 (Kompanion 2)
Country of origin: Soviet Union (Ижéвск/Izhevsk)
First year of production: 1991
Dimensions: 429 × 249 × 23-50 mm (feet adds 4.5 mm)
Weight: 1742 g
This computer was produced by Ижевский механический завод (Izhevsk Mechanical Plant) in Izhevsk.
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Arsenal was a front company to commercialise this computer, bypassing the factory. The factory is a military plant—it produced Kalashnikov assault rifles, etc. still to this day.
Like the Didaktik M it used the Ангстрем Т34ВГ1 (Angstrem T34VG1) ULA. See there for more info about this ULA. The CPU is an Angstrem КР1858ВМ1 (KR1858VM1) Z80 clone and the masked ROM is an Angstrem КР1013РЕ1 (KR1013RE1), firmware version 141 (link to more information about firmware versions).
The КР1858ВМ1 CPU was named the Т34ВМ1 (T34VM1) by Angstrem, in honor of the T-34 tank in which chief designer Юрий Отрохов (Yuri Otrokhov) learned to drive.
Only Angstrem used the Т34ВМ1 designation, usually made in a ceramic case. Later they used the КР1858ВМ1 designation like the other fabs. The КР1858ВМ1 in machine was made by Angstrem as can seen by their logo:
The keyboard is a МС7007 (MS7007), as used on the Электроника МС 0511 (Elektronika MS 0511) PDP-11 clone.
At the very end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, domestic clones of the ZX Spectrum were wildly popular in the Soviet Union. At the Leningrad radio market near the Avtovo metro station, both kits for self-assembly (board plus chips and radio components in bulk) and ready-made computers were sold—“industrial” samples and devices assembled by hand in cases made of glued plastic, tin or textolite. Having assessed the demand, numerous small cooperatives and serious enterprises began to produce Spectrum clones throughout the country.