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PMD-85

The PMD-85 was a Czechoslovakian personal computer based on the MHB 8080A processor and manufactured by slovakian company Tesla Bratislava.

Several versions were available:
- PMD-85-1 (most common)
- PMD-85-2 (better keyboard and software)
- PMD-85-2A (new motherboard)
- PMD-85-3 (new motherboard again, pictured)
- Mato (kit of a clone in a smaller case)

This machine was well known among kids and fans for its presence in schools in 80's.

Thanks to Monty Jack and Jan Krupka from Czech Republik for info and picture.

The PMD series, by Andrej
Actually PMD series started much earlier. First one was PMD-81 (from 1981) followed by PMD-83 (of course manufactured in 1983-84) and the last one from series was PMD-85.
While PMD-81 (as far as I know) had just cartridge for Basic G, PMD-85 had as standard Basic G, but also Pascal cartridge was available.
Computer didn't have a monitor, it was plugged in regular (at that time B/W) TV.
While PMD-85-3 had prominent keyboard (as you can see in a picture), previous models had flat keys

Some acid remarks from David Cady:
In fact, this computer did not have a built-in language. That Basic G was a kind of a cartridge or a module, that can be seen and identified fairly easy on the picture provided on the page.
Above the keyboard, where the upper part of the rear panel begins, you can notice a slightly different colour of the case (the gray is a little lighter) with only one inscription on it in the upper right corner. Well, it's not the case anymore - it's that module! It was huge (in comparison to Atari or Commodore cartridges), quite heavy (almost one fifth of the total weight of the computer) and, surprisingly, fragile.

Probably therefore was this Basic G module shipped automatically with the computer (plugged in already - that might be the reason, why it's so often described as built-in).

Basic G was really bad, it was a very-low-performance clone of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Basic programming language. Just imagine, that holding down the function key and pressing a letter key meanwhile wrote the whole command on the screen although there was no indication for the upcoming command on the keyboard itself (unlike ZX). It was very uncomfortable to get used to this and majority of those, who worked with PMD's didn't use this "fast commands writing feature".

The PMD 85/1 had a pretty miserable keyboard made of telephone keys (!). Writing a couple of A4's could become a blood-sweating experience.

PMD's were not really much cheaper in comparison to Atari, Commodore or ZX Spectrum computers (some of the peripherals were even more expensive than their 'western' equivalents), but they were the "official" computers for youth educating in computer science. Probably every other computer or programming club had several of those, so they became fairly widespread despite the quality.

PMD 85/2A, PMD 85/3 and Mato, Slovak successor to (and clone of) PMD 85/2, were basically the same shit. Sorry to say that, but I had to work with them, so I know, what I'm talking about. I didn't like ZX's, but I'd prefer them anytime to PMD's.

The peripherals - similar to ZX, any casette player/recorder could be plugged in. There was a special peripheral from Tesla that combined the tape recorder with a printer (the D-100 model or the BT-100 model). This printer had a single-pin head and you had to put a carbon paper (!) in between the head and the clean paper for the printer to work correctly - to print at all! That's what I call innovative approach :-)