Posted by sandebert 10/24/2024
You can buy the actual computer kit as well at https://pcpress.rs/galaksija/, but that one ships only within Serbia.
Even though the website only allows domestic shipping, I suspect (without knowing anything about that country or their culture) that the sort of company which sells a product like that would be pleased enough by the idea that a foreigner wants to buy it that if you contact them there's a good chance they'd be willing to send it internationally if you paid the shipping cost.
The listed price is 8,000 RSD (Serbian Dinars) is equal to ~£57 / ~$74 - so even if the shipping was as expensive as the item itself, it still wouldn't be insanely expensive for someone who really wants it.
Yeah, I was a bit dissapointed with that, but it's understandable that they don't expect to sell a lot of those, it's not a business, just some nostalgia fueled fun project.
Now we have FPGAs, so this approach is pretty much obsolete.
The title simply isn't true. There was no ban on home computers, just a value limit for an import. And as the article shows, homegrown computers were common.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computer_systems_from_...
So, in those periods when inflation made importing impossible, there were two main sources of "west" home computers - smuggling, and Yugoslav citizens who went abroad to work for few years were not subject to import limits when returning home with their personal belongings.
General idea behind these limits was to strengthen domestic industry, and your list shows that - plethora of home computers made in Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, these computers were not compatible with anything and with no software they were educational tools at best. That's why no one was buying them except schools and other organizations who had no other choice. It changed a bit with Lira as it was PC compatible, but it came a bit later when Yugoslavia started opening up and these import limits were slowly lifted.
Adding to the irony, nearly a million Yugoslavs worked in Germany as “Gastarbeiter” (guest workers). They acted as unofficial import channels, bringing foreign goods and currency back home.
Interestingly, despite the “restrictions”, there was a vibrant tech scene. Commodore and ZX Spectrum computers were surprisingly common. If I remember correctly, Galaksija actually looked like attempt by government to maintain control - I could be wrong (war might change perspective).
Surprising, was there no opposition to russian occupation in Serbia? In Poland there was a strict ban on personal ownership of typewriters, fax machines, copiers, printers, radio transmitters, modems and computers (3 year prison term minimum). CIA was smuggling those to Poland with the help of Church https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/18/world/reagan-and-pope-rep...
>The report in Time adds many new details, particularly the role of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Roman Catholic Church in opening networks across which telephones, fax machines, printing presses, photocopiers, computers and intelligence information moved to Solidarity.
Personal possession anecdote from book "High-tech behind the Iron Curtain. Electronics, computers and control systems in the Polish People's Republic" ("High-tech za żelazną kurtyną. Elektronika, komputery i systemy sterowania w PRL" 978-83-8098-094-5)
>In 1984, "Informatyka" magazine, involved in the dissemination of these machines, reported on the adventures of Mr. Przemysław, who received in April [...] a package from his brother in Toronto, containing the VIC-20 microcomputer, power supply, cassette recorder, a set of cassettes for television games and English language manual and connecting cables. The Customs Office in Gdynia refused to issue an import license, stating that it could issue [...] only if the computer was necessary for the citizen's professional or scientific work
It slowly got better in second half of the 80s. COCOM relaxed import sanctions in 1984 on low end 8bit gaming machines:
"New Media Behind the Iron Curtain: Cultural History of Video, Microcomputers and Satellite Television in Communist Poland" https://research.utu.fi/converis/getfile?id=51338894&portal=...
>The breakthrough in the domestication of computers in Poland took place in the mid-1980s, most likely between 1984 and 1986. In the global context, this might have been relatively late, but in the context of the Eastern bloc it seems that Poland was within the norm. There are two main reasons behind this chronology: one international, one local. Firstly, on an international level, the embargo on 8-bit technology was relaxed in 1984. Computers had been at the heart of the CoCom debate since the mid-1970s, but – as Mastanduno reports – it was not until July 1984 that the embargo on the most popular 8-bit microcomputers was removed, even though at the same time new restrictions were introduced regarding various telecommunications software and solutions.
In 1985 you could finally legally buy 8bit Atari in Pewex - chain of special shops established to siphon western currency out of the black market.
>Secondly, on a local level, as Kluska reports, in the autumn of 1984, the “[Polish] customs office ceased to make it difficult for citizens to import microcomputer equipment.”
Not really, because it didn't last for any length of time.
Many people know that’s nonsense but there is never a shortage of people willing to lie for political advantage and in that case there was so much money at stake that you could make a political career criticizing the evils of socialized medicine.
My elderly nan had a fall this morning and has badly hurt her back. She has been lying on the floor in her house since this morning (six hours so far), immobile, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. I wish I lived near her so I could help. She needs an ambulance unfortunately as she literally cannot move - she is in terrible pain.
When/if the ambulance finally does arrive, it will take her to a crowded, failing hospital where she will probably have to wait several more hours before being seen by an underpaid and overstretched nurse in a miserable ward.
Our system is failing, and not because it is underfunded (it gets nearly £200 billion a year and it has had real-terms increases in funding for decades, and employs 2M people). It is failing because:
* it is monolithic and unwieldy
* it has no efficiency incentives
* it is a state monopoly, so it is able to underpay and poorly treat its staff
* politicians are not the right people to preside over healthcare
* it is considered our national religion, and it doesn't get the scrutiny it deserves
The European public/private model provides much better quality and outcomes. The American system, expensive though it is, provides far better quality and outcomes.
> I'm a republican who is also opposed to public healthcare and I understand it isn't communism
You know that guy who leads your party? Large, orange, shouty? He's conflated it with communism, repeatedly. You should perhaps consider paying more attention.
That's _a little different_ to the original claim never to have seen it conflated with communism.
You must understand something about her platform and policies, I sure don't. She hasn't said much of substance. All the bitching between the two of them is like watching my children argue.
One could argue that it spawned the creativity of domestic creatives who built the home computer anyway with the available resources.
I'm not personally favouring protectionism of this sort but we have to be fair to the thing we're criticizing and there is plenty to say about the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without having to resort to claims that they wanted to ban home computers for the sake of it
You can also look at Cuba were personal computers were severely restricted even in 1990s and 2000s. The internet was severely restricted until the mid-2010s!
Socialists tend to believe that real socialism hasn't been tried properly yet. That's how they explain the litany of failure.
And if anyone wants to try the "but Scandinavia is socialist and look how great they are" trope then bring it on...