website/content/museum/robotron-pc-1715.md

---
title: Robotron PC 1715
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- Germany
years:
- '1985'
cpus:
- U880
params:
  name: PC 1715
  image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_system_s1.jpg
  company: /companies/robotron
  company_name: Robotron
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: PC 1715
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Robotron
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: Germany
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1985'
  - label: END OF PRODUCTION
    value: '1989'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: None
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Typewriter type, 97 keys with numeric keypad and 15 function keys
  - label: CPU
    value: U880 (Z80 clone)
  - label: SPEED
    value: 2.25 MHz
  - label: CO-PROCESSOR
    value: 'CRT controller : KR 580 WG 75 (Intel 8275)'
  - label: RAM
    value: 64 KB (theoricaly upgradable to 256 KB, but memory expansions never came)
  - label: ROM
    value: 2 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 64 x 16, 80 x 24
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: None
  - label: COLORS
    value: Monochrome green phosphore
  - label: SOUND
    value: no sound device
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 50 (W) x 40 (D) x 14 (H) cm / 12.8 Kg
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Keyboard, printer (RS-232), V24, external drive
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: 2 x 5''1/4 disk-drives (720 KB each)
  - label: OS
    value: SCP (CP/m-Clone)
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in switching Power Supply Unit
  - label: PRICE
    value: 19,047 GDR Mark (GRD, 1986)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - links
  forum_thread: 845
  photos:
  - title: LARGE VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: Keyboard, main unit and display cases were of metal.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_system_s2.jpg
  - title: SIDE VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: Nice and pure design.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_sideview_s1.jpg
  - title: RUNNING
    subtitle: ''
    text: The Robotron 1715 is running a Czech version of WordStar.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_running_s1.jpg
  - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
    subtitle: ''
    text: Note the 10 editing keys and the strange location of the F15 key.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_keyboard_s2.jpg
  - title: REAR PANEL
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      From left to right:\
      • Monitor's power socket\
      • Fuses and mains socket\
      • (top) External floppy drive connector\
      • Video output connector\
      • V24 connector\
      • Serial printer connector.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_rearside_s1.jpg
  - title: INSIDE
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      **(1)** Large fan\
      **(2)** Manufacturing card\
      **(3)** Switching PSU\
      **(4)** Two NEC floppy disk drives, assembled in Germany under NEC licence\
      **(5)** Floppy drives controller card, covers a large part of the main board.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_inside_s1.jpg
  - title: MOTHERBOARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      **(1)** 64 KB RAM chips (32 x 4116)\
      **(2)** Siemens display controller\
      **(3)** Character generator ROM. A second sockets allows a second (extended) character generator to be added.\
      **(4)** I/O chips\
      **(5)** 2 KB BIOS ROM\
      **(6)** Z80 processor, Russian version\
      **(7)** Disk drives controller card connector.
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_mainboard_s1.jpg
  - title: CZECH MANUFACTURING CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/robotron_1715_manufcard_s1.jpg
  links:
  - title: Robotron 1715 unofficial support page
    url: http://www.xepb.ru/robotron/index.html
    text: Very useful page with docs, download (boot disks), forum, sale/exchange, links.
  - title: www.robotrontechnik.de
    url: http://www.robotrontechnik.de/
    text: Very very complete and detailes website devoted to Robotron (in German).
  oc_id: 864
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230607091245/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=864
    date: '2023-06-07'
---

The Robotron 1715 was designed in Eastern Germany and manufactured by VEB Robotron Büromaschinenwerk "Ernst Thälmann" in Sömmerda.

It was based on a Z80 CPU (in fact Eastern clone U880), and used SCP, a CP/M compatible operating system. It was widely used in Russia and other East European countries for office and educational purposes.

Although it didn't stand the comparison with Western PC systems, it was a very robust and reliable system daily used by numerous companies in every field. One of its main drawback is that it didn't have any graphic resolution.

There were different models of the 1715, with different memory and floppy configurations. The **1715M** had 256 KB RAM and SCP3 (CP/M 3.0 clone) as its OS.\
The 1715 was the direct successor of the Robotron A5120 and was fully software-compatible with it.

---

**Contributors :** Ruediger

<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>