It's a bit on the side, but I remember my father telling me that the PCB's he sold to the Eastern Bloc were often adorned with microscopic greetings in Cyrillic, though the Russian spelling was often pretty bad.
Just like now, the Soviet Union was under heavy sanctions, and they weren't allowed to receive the latest computer tech. The various companies had ways around this, though, and the saying was that they'd purposefully design their boards so that Russian engineers could "tamper" with them in order to achieve higher than allowed clock speeds.
Anyway this cute board just made me think of that, so thought I'd share it.
I’d guess the former, but only because I’m honestly surprised anything designed or manufactured under government mandate post (generously) 1985 actually works. The collapse of the Soviet Union might have marked the start of open (!) looting, but with rare exceptions Soviet research organizations have been in pure subsistence mode for a decade or more before that.
It's incredibly racist, offensive and ignorant to assume that "Eastern Block" means just Russia. Many former "eastern block" countries nowadays are firmly with the west and oppose Russia and their stupid invasion with all their might. Being bundled together with the Russians is the most personally offensive thing I've ever read on HN.
I didn't say either thing though? I said many of us here in the former Eastern Block oppose Russia - and I personally find being bundled with the Russians offensive, as I am not a Russian. Anything you read into it beyond this point is your own interpretation.
Uh-huh, yet it's somehow not racist, offensive and ignorant to blame all Russians for everything now. Some of you guys have lost all the high moral ground that you once supposedly had.
I have a working theory that long years of “oppression” in many Western societies of not being able to criticize any group of certain ethnicity, nationality, culture, or religion resulted in a buildup of sorts, so when it became okay to pour shit on ethnic Russians and citizens of that country (between which you make no distinction — do you make a distinction between Jews and Israel?), it's like the flood gates were opened. All the hate and vitriol accumulated over the years is directed at a group that one is allowed to hate.
As soon as a new subset of people have been designated as part of the outgroup, they are basically fair game for everybody to get their kicks in¹. And boy howdy do people love some fully justifiable carnage.
Betrayers of The Free World reap the benefits of living in The Free World the most, and advance ahead on the social ladder towards decision making positions, perpetuating these bad decisions.
And people who did the right decision, have to pay twice. One is the opportunity price, and another is the externality price.
I am 41, so, old enough to remember the end of the cold war as a child. I was almost exactly 10 at the fall of the USSR.
But, maybe most importantly, I am not from the US nor Russia, I am French. And while we were on clearly the western side, we had a somewhat more nuanced view of the conflict, I mean, we even had (and still have) a communist party.
Just like now, the Soviet Union was under heavy sanctions, and they weren't allowed to receive the latest computer tech. The various companies had ways around this, though, and the saying was that they'd purposefully design their boards so that Russian engineers could "tamper" with them in order to achieve higher than allowed clock speeds.
Anyway this cute board just made me think of that, so thought I'd share it.