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The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
21–30 of 88 posts
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
This computer was designed the better part of a decade after Bill Gates's letter. The environment is really completely different - the personal computer revolution has already happened, these people are aware of it, etc. In fact, such computers were available but well outside the budget of many. So it's the story of making a PC from available parts, without hard currency and as cheap as possible - radically cheaper t…
To me, the article would have been more informative and satisfying had it dwelled more on the unique elements you mention as opposed to the ways where it resembled the hobbyist PC era, like non-commercial distribution of programs in source form.
Yep, my initial impression of the article was that it didn't do a great job of contextualizing the story and was going to write a comment about that. Then promptly succumbed to someone's-wrong-on-the-internet reflex.
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#23those geniuses broadcast computer programs via airwaves during a radio show. listeners would record it on cassette and play the program on computer. anybody else did that ?
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#24There were a lot of DYI computer schemes in USSR in my childhood. Mostly because getting your hands onto a ready-made one outside workplaces and some very advanced schools was nearly impossible, but there were a bunch of schemes published in popular technical journals. From those, with luck, some access to electronic components (also not always easy but easier than getting the whole computer) and decent skills with a…
The difficulty of getting transistors in the early 70's (to fix one's time machine): https://youtu.be/m3xVdxDWFWU?t=2700 Do you remember if it was true that milspec had in general better tolerances than commercially sold components?
yes. The same components, just better binned, marked "VP" - "Voennaya Priemka" ("Military Acceptance"). Like a consumer binned resistor could be 10-15% off the target, VP - no more than 5%. Our main source of electronic components were military electronic hardware dumps around our Navy base :)
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#25Antonić’s microcomputer contained only 4K bytes of program memory—a veritable drop-in-the-bucket compared to any laptop today.
Standard laptop RAM = 8GB? So 2,000,000 “drops” of 4KB.
Standard bucket = 12l? So 120,000 100µL drops.
So considerably smaller than a drop in a bucket.
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#26This brings back many memories.. I owe my early amazement of being able to "tell machine what you want and it will obey" to guys like that. Here is another nice piece that puts more context on that era and creation of Galaxija [1]
BTW, Voja Antonic left Belgrade few years ago, now living in US.[2]
[1] https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-story-of-yugoslavias-di...
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#27those geniuses broadcast computer programs via airwaves during a radio show. listeners would record it on cassette and play the program on computer. anybody else did that ?
BBC did something similar with its BBC Micro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro_expansion_unit#Telet...
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#28those geniuses broadcast computer programs via airwaves during a radio show. listeners would record it on cassette and play the program on computer. anybody else did that ?
This happened in The Netherlands as well. Here's [0] a mostly English language link to the history of the Basicode system as used in the radio program Hobbyscoop.
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#29This brings back many memories.. I owe my early amazement of being able to "tell machine what you want and it will obey" to guys like that. Here is another nice piece that puts more context on that era and creation of Galaxija [1] BTW, Voja Antonic left Belgrade few years ago, now living in US.[2] [1] https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-story-of-yugoslavias-di... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voja_Antoni%C4%87
I've just done a bit of googling and this guy
https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/articles/galaksija/
Has designed a replica system, with some minor mods to allow for newer easier-to-get logic chips, and better compatibility with newer Z80 CPUs. He offers up the whole design for download - so anyone should be able to build one. I've bookmarked it... I'm definitely interested in making one to add to my retro collection.
Re: The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s Yugoslavia
#30This brings back many memories.. I owe my early amazement of being able to "tell machine what you want and it will obey" to guys like that. Here is another nice piece that puts more context on that era and creation of Galaxija [1] BTW, Voja Antonic left Belgrade few years ago, now living in US.[2] [1] https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-story-of-yugoslavias-di... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voja_Antoni%C4%87
I've just done a bit of googling and this guy https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/articles/galaksija/ Has designed a replica system, with some minor mods to allow for newer easier-to-get logic chips, and better compatibility with newer Z80 CPUs. He offers up the whole design for download - so anyone should be able to build one. I've bookmarked it... I'm definitely interested in making one to add to my retro collection…
Nice find. I'll try to get parts and assemble it for myself as well.
Maybe engage my kid into magic of computer science as a side effect ;)