Machine nameplate, videoterminal CID 7220 / CM 1611

Object/Artifact

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

Machine nameplate, videoterminal CID 7220 / CM 1611

Entry/Object ID

2025.1.432

Description

Rectangular nameplate, cream ground, black lettering, fine black rule inside a metallic border, a circular mounting hole at each side. Black square trademark device with ® at upper left; CM 1611 large at top; C.I.D 7220 beneath; ruled box with 220 V 250 VA and 50/60 HZ; No de serie blank; Hecho en Cuba; emco lower left, INSAC lower right.

Context

A Cuban-manufactured computer peripheral. Cuban computing began with the analog SILNA 999 of 1968 and the CID-201 digital prototype of 1970, built at the Centro de Investigaciones Digitales after Castro asked during a 1969 visit to the University of Havana whether Cuba could build a digital computer; the design was inspired by the PDP-8, and components were mostly Japanese because of the US embargo. ICID was formed in 1969; INSAC followed on 30 November 1976 to coordinate development, production and use of computing systems. ⚠️ The CMEA dimension is what makes this object unusual. Cuba was not merely a recipient of socialist-bloc technology but a participant in the СМ ЭВМ program, one of eight countries whose institutes contributed. The СМ-3, for instance, was produced from 1978 including in Cuba. A Cuban-built terminal carrying a CMEA family number is evidence of Cuba as a producer inside that system, not only a customer — which is the opposite of what the collection's other socialist-bloc objects (the Soviet coin, the ZVL label, the pH booklet, the Czechoslovak drill packet) document.

Collection

The Cabrera Arús family collection

Acquisition

Accession

2025.1

Made/Created

Manufacturer

EMCO, INSAC

Time Period

1980s

Place

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Edition

videoterminal CID 7220

Notes

Documented development team for the CID 7220: A. García, A. Cruz, E. Rodríguez, V. Llopiz, authors of the 1983 characteristics-and-applications paper. ⚠️ These are the paper's authors, not necessarily the designers of record. The CID-201 project a decade earlier was directed by Luis Carrasco and mostly designed by Orlando Ramos.

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Transcription

Black square device with ® ⚠️ unidentified registered trademark CM 1611 ⚠️ probably the СМ ЭВМ family designation C.I.D 7220 — Centro de Investigaciones Digitales model 7220, alphanumeric videoterminal ⚠️ reading corrected from C.D 7220 on the collection owner's identification, 2026-09-17; confirm the middle character under magnification 220 V 250 VA · 50/60 HZ No de serie — ⚠️ blank Hecho en Cuba — Made in Cuba emco ⚠️ unidentified · INSAC

Material

Plastic

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Relationships

Related Places

Place

City

Havana

Country

Cuba

Region

Caribbean, Central America

Research Notes

Notes

Researched 2026-09-17 in Spanish, Russian and English. CID 7220: Tecno-Historia de Cuba (tecnohistoriacubana.wordpress.com), Referencias and Cronología — the strongest source found, a bibliography of the Cuban technical literature citing the 1983 Revista CID paper and the CID patents by number. Cuban computing: English Wikipedia, CID-201; EcuRed. СМ ЭВМ: Russian Wikipedia; computer-museum.ru; habr.com / DataArt museum. ⚠️ The CM 1611 = СМ ЭВМ reading rests on pattern and context, not on a source. Do not enter it as fact. Verify against СМ ЭВМ nomenclature tables, which exist in the Russian technical literature. ⚠️ emco remains the single unresolved element and is now the main open question.

Notes

INSAC: Instituto Nacional de Sistemas Automatizados y Técnicas de Computación, created 30 November 1976, Havana; coordinated development, production and use of computing systems; publisher of CID: Electrónica y proceso de datos en Cuba (first issue 1980); created DATINSAC, a network of computing and technical-service centers, in 1983; c. 1,500 specialists trained by 1980 ICID / CID: Centro (later Instituto Central) de Investigaciones Digitales, formed 1969 on Castro's initiative Product lines: CID-201 (1970, PDP-8-inspired, Japanese components owing to the embargo); CID 201-A, 201-B; CID 300/10 minicomputer (deployment from 1980); CID 400/10 and CID 1408 8-bit microcomputers; MEDICID medical equipment (prototypes 1982); videoterminal CID 7220, in production from 1983; videoterminal CID 7221; videoterminal CID 1011 VT E/S Documented CID 7220 personnel: A. García, A. Cruz, E. Rodríguez, V. Llopiz (authors, 1983)

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

September 17, 2026

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

September 18, 2026