Imagesource: Museum of Science and Technology Belgrade, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Cold War era (which had its fair share of far from pleasant consequences in many places) also coincided with the late 70s and 80s... a historical fact that led to some intriguing developments in the world of microcomputer technology, particularly in Eastern European countries of that time.

There were numerous machines. Some were direct clones of Western designs, while others boasted innovations, partly due to the ingenuity of their designers and partly because of the prevailing restrictions on availability of hardware.

One such machine was Yugoslavia's Galaksija, and Steven Cass aka @stephencass, who writes for spectrum.ieee, took on the challenge of recreating this device using more modern means.

It turned out to be quite an adventure. However, he got some help from a veteran, had to cancel his Crowd Supply order, and managed to assemble the device from parts he sourced himself.

It's an entertaining tale that, if you're interested in the hardware, could have also seen an FPGA-based conclusion since there's a suitable Galaksija core available for MiSTer.