Revolution During Disintegration: A Brief History of Yugoslav Computing

Vlado Vince presents a history of computing in Yugoslavia, a socialist state that was not aligned with the Soviet Union and traded with the West without joining NATO. He argues that this in-between position shaped what its engineers could build, buy and connect, and he draws parallels to today's tech sanctions and export controls.

The enterprise thread follows Digital Equipment Corporation, whose partnership with Yugoslav engineers grew into Iskra Delta, a firm that built PDP-11 compatibles under license. The home-computing thread centres on Galaksija, a magazine-driven do-it-yourself microcomputer whose designers published schematics and parts lists so readers could import components and assemble machines, which thousands did before import rules loosened. The networking thread covers the JUGPAK packet network, built separately by each republic, and the scramble to reach the internet as the country broke apart. Late-1980s bulletin board systems linked people across republic lines, and an anti-war BBS network later relayed messages into besieged Sarajevo.

The closing lessons are that import limits tend to be worked around, that hacker and open-source habits appear under constraint wherever they are, and that keeping communication open during war has real humanitarian value. Vince also cautions against judging people by their country, and the session ends with questions about his sources, which are mostly local-language materials.