How one engineer beat the ban on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia

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.

Now we have FPGAs, so this approach is pretty much obsolete.

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.”

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...