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Olympia RAE 4 / 30

Electronics

First-generation all transistor logic with core memory.

Olympia RAE 4 / 30
Olympia RAE 4 / 30 (opens in new tab)
Olympia RAE 4 / 30 Olympia RAE 4 / 30 Transistors are Germanium PNP

Architecture, Memory & Speed

Construction

Mechanical and electronic construction is very similar to the RAE 4 / 15.

The electronics are constructed on 14 single-sided phenolic PCBs. The double-ended PCB design is carried over from the RAE 4 / 15, this brings along the inconvenience of requiring an extender card and a flying lead for in-circuit testing of a PCB.

A form of “integrated circuit” is employed in this model, with 2-transistor flip-flop modules being separately built and then soldered to the logic boards. It’s hard to see this as as a major innovation or improvement as the modules are no easier to servce at component level and exchanging them involves a fair bit of desoldering and resoldering.

The steel chassis is carried over from the RAE 4 / 15, together with the large cooling fan. The same keyboard design is used with microswitches for key contacts.