Recently the [Chornobyl Family] got their hands on an ES-4001 control panel for a 1970s-era Soviet mainframe, with the intention to restore it to full working order. Not just because they’re really into cool old Soviet technology, but also because of the connection that this control panel holds to the Chernobyl nuclear accident that was so instrumental to the area in modern times.
The Duga-1 computer room with what’s left of the ES-1060 mainframe. (Credit: Chornobyl Family, YouTube)During the 1970s the USSR felt that it could not be left behind in the race to create better digital computers. This led them to not only create a few original designs, but also effectively clone the IBM System/360 and System/370. This resulted in the ES EVM-series of mainframes, with an ES-1060 finding itself installed at the Duga-1 early warning radar system near what is now the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Although the radar arrays are the most well-known feature of the Duga-1, below it is the computer center where the ES-1060 was installed. It was never put into service following the ChNPP Unit-4 accident — all that remains of a once pinnacle of Soviet engineering are the picked-over carcass of the mainframe and its control panel.
The control panel in question was obtained was from the early 1980s, serving a more gentle service life in a datacenter and looks to be in a mostly good condition. That said, there was still enough to be done to make it work and undo the damage of its violent removal from the mainframe. Along the way we also learn how the system was used and how the control panel works.
Although similar in some ways to the System/370, it’s still very different, and with only about 300 of these mainframes produced, it’s worth saving whatever elements still remain today, along with the surviving documentation.