Personal computer Galaksija

Constructor: Vojislav Voja Antonić

Manufacturer: Samogradnja, Elektronika Inženjering

Place and time of production: Belgrade, SFRY, 1984

Dimensions (cm): 30.5 . 22 . 3.5

Inventory number: Т:127.25, Т:127.32

In early 1980s, computers became sufficiently small and cheap and slowly, with telephone, radio and television, they became the new home appliances. In the first years, the computer was actually a toy for hobbyists and enthusiasts and it was used for first programming attempts, but mainly for playing video games. Up until the introduction of IBM personal computers, the market had offered a wide range of mutually incompatible models. At the time of great popularity of the Sinclair ZX-81, in Serbia, engineer Vojislav Antonić began the development of the first local home computer.

Galaksija was presented in December 1983, in the first issue of the magazine Računari u vašoj kući, the first specialised magazine of its kind in former Yugoslavia. The purchase order for the “kit for self-construction of Galaksija” was filled in by around 8,000 readers. Commercial version also appeared soon and it was manufactured by Elektronika Inženjering and Institute for Textbooks and Educational Resources of Serbia. The computer’s housing was designed by renowned designer Gojko Varda. Galaksija became one of the school computers, used for education of the first generations of “computer-literate” students.

In the following years, numerous programs written for Galaksija also appeared, most of which were computer games. The programs were sold, but they were also available for free, via radio waves, when they were broadcasted as acoustic signal in Zoran Modli’s radio show Ventilator, at radio station Belgrade 202. The programs were recorded onto tape cassettes and then people “reproduced” them into their computers. As far we know, this kind of distribution was unique in the world.