This listing is for the individual Saratov-2 Magnetic Core Memory plane shown in the first three photos.

The plane is fully intact with no broken wires or cores. The plane matrix is 64 x 64 cores or 4,196 bits in size. Frame size is 5 inches square, not counting the outside pins. Thickness is 3/8 inch maximum. The frame and connecting pins are also in excellent condition. Core size is large at ~1mm which is about the size of American memory cores from 10 years earlier. The design is four wire per core also comparable to American memory from ten years earlier.

The Saratov-2 was developed in the old Soviet Union. Although it was prevalent in it's day, like many of the old American Mainframes and minicomputers, the Saratov-2 has almost entirely vanished into the junkyards and trash bins of history. Of course you can find a few pieces of the once great machines like this one salvaged for your pleasure here on Ebay.

The machine was said to be a clone of the DEC PDP-8 and was very similar in it's rack construction and outward appearance. The internals of the Saratov-2 were really radically different than the DEC machine. It's quite an interesting study project and a few have even developed articles about it you can find scattered in various corners of the web. That last photo is actually the front control panel of a Saratov-2 from a Soviet computer graveyard.

I'm just in awe of the extreme amount of precision craft work that went into these old machines and there is no better example than the magnetic core memory.

See many other rare and beautiful tech collectables in my ebay store. I have thousands of items not listed and will auction off some real rarities periodically.

Vintage 1970s Soviet Magnetic Core Memory: 4k bit Saratov-2 Hand stitched plane

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