{"id":16323,"date":"2024-10-24T11:38:34","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T09:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/24\/how-one-engineer-beat-the-ban-on-home-computers-in-socialist-yugoslavia\/"},"modified":"2024-10-24T11:38:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T09:38:34","slug":"how-one-engineer-beat-the-ban-on-home-computers-in-socialist-yugoslavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/24\/how-one-engineer-beat-the-ban-on-home-computers-in-socialist-yugoslavia\/","title":{"rendered":"How one engineer beat the ban on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Lewis Packwood\u2019s book Curious Video Game Machines, Voja Antoni\u0107 explains how he built a console and published instructions for anyone to make their own<\/p>\n

Very few Yugoslavians had access to computers in the early 1980s: they were mostly the preserve of large institutions or companies. Importing home computers like the Commodore 64 was not only expensive, but also legally impossible, thanks to a law that restricted regular citizens from importing individual goods that were worth more than 50 Deutsche Marks (the Commodore 64 cost over 1,000 Deutsche Marks at launch). Even if someone in Yugoslavia could afford the latest home computers, they would have to resort to smuggling.<\/p>\n

In 1983, engineer Vojislav \u201cVoja\u201d Antoni\u0107 was becoming more and more frustrated with the senseless Yugoslavian import laws. \u201cWe had a public debate with politicians,\u201d he says. \u201cWe tried to convince them that they should allow [more expensive items], because it\u2019s progress.\u201d The efforts of Antoni\u0107 and others were fruitless, however, and the 50 Deutsche Mark limit remained. But perhaps there was a way around it.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nIn Lewis Packwood\u2019s book Curious Video Game Machines, Voja Antoni\u0107 explains how he built a console and published instructions for anyone to make their own
\nVery few Yugoslavians had access to computers in the early 1980s: they were mostly the preserve of large institutions or companies. Importing home computers like the Commodore 64 was not only expensive, but also legally impossible, thanks to a law that restricted regular citizens from importing individual goods that were worth more than 50 Deutsche Marks (the Commodore 64 cost over 1,000 Deutsche Marks at launch). Even if someone in Yugoslavia could afford the latest home computers, they would have to resort to smuggling.
\nIn 1983, engineer Vojislav \u201cVoja\u201d Antoni\u0107 was becoming more and more frustrated with the senseless Yugoslavian import laws. \u201cWe had a public debate with politicians,\u201d he says. \u201cWe tried to convince them that they should allow [more expensive items], because it\u2019s progress.\u201d The efforts of Antoni\u0107 and others were fruitless, however, and the 50 Deutsche Mark limit remained. But perhaps there was a way around it. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Lewis Packwood\u2019s book Curious Video Game Machines, Voja Antoni\u0107 explains how he built a console and published instructions for anyone to make their own Very few Yugoslavians had access to computers in the early 1980s: they were mostly the preserve of large institutions or companies. Importing home computers like the Commodore 64 was not …<\/p>\n

How one engineer beat the ban on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16323"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}