The KC 87 was a better KC 85/1 with BASIC also in ROM. There was a color option (the 85/1 was only monochrome), but no real graphics apart from ROM pseudographic characters. The wiring diagrams were openly available and there were also a lot of different (and often home-made) schemes. Der Robotron Z 9001 ist ein auf dem U880-Mikroprozessor basierender Heimcomputer des VEB Robotron aus der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Robotron Z 9001, Robotron KC 85/1, Robotron KC 87. Include Region-Wide Releases. Search Mode: Data Search Image Search Search Type. Amiga OCS/ECS - Graphics imjustpickle / the lost underground : Nov 2020: Plant Family.

Robotron was the East German state computer manufacturer. By the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it employed 68,000 people and was churning out communist computers from its headquarters in Dresden for much of the eastern bloc and for export around the world (via ESER), branded with this fantastic retro-futurist logo:

Robotron’s product range included personal computers like the sludge-coloured K 8915:

And the hi-tech Robotron KC-87:

The company also made calculators, typewriters, disk drives, printers and other electronic equipment.

Robotron Kc 87 Parts

After German reunification in 1990, the Robotron group was split into pieces and sold off, and the company’s communist-era equipment is mainly kept alive by groups of hobbyists and enthusiasts. Today, the successor company is a comparatively small data-management software business, still based in Dresden.

In May 1986, the Robotron factory in Sömmerda was visited by East German head of state Erich Honecker, and the company produced a promotional documentary around the event, Besuch in Sömmerda (A Visit to Sömmerda), which revelled in soft pro-government propaganda and awesome mid-80s saxophone:

Robotron Kc 87 World Series

The company seems to have had an appetite for promotional trinkets, including ashtrays, medallions, stamps, calendars, and more. Most curious of these, perhaps, is a schnapps glass with the Robotron logo on it, accompanied by an illustration that looks like a slightly complex take on the Reddit alien:

Robotron Kc 87 Spiele

So, did today’s link-aggregating web behemoth get their logo from a computer company from behind the iron curtain?