To be honest, that crap doesn't look any worse than the stuff on sale in the USA in the late 1970s/early 1980s. The Russkies were just making knockoffs of what they saw in the West anyway, so they were knocking off horrible design.
I wonder who the intended readers were. Back in '81, a ruble was still money, and something priced in the hundreds of rubles was only for the kind of people who owned automobiles. By the way, please note the section of automotive electronics. No definite knowledge about availability, but I suspect that unless one knew somebody, this is more a list of things to get on a waiting list for than to buy. No Amazonski two-day delivery on this stuff.
As for design, I think that since the government siphoned off the best minds for its needs (military), there were few left over for non-essential, civilian work. The products' names are aggressively uninspired---"Electronica EL47", "Lamp Set 'Ruslan'".
4 comments:
Indeed a soviet surf was to be pitied.
It is spelled "serf".
To be honest, that crap doesn't look any worse than the stuff on sale in the USA in the late 1970s/early 1980s. The Russkies were just making knockoffs of what they saw in the West anyway, so they were knocking off horrible design.
I wonder who the intended readers were. Back in '81, a ruble was still money, and something priced in the hundreds of rubles was only for the kind of people who owned automobiles. By the way, please note the section of automotive electronics. No definite knowledge about availability, but I suspect that unless one knew somebody, this is more a list of things to get on a waiting list for than to buy. No Amazonski two-day delivery on this stuff.
As for design, I think that since the government siphoned off the best minds for its needs (military), there were few left over for non-essential, civilian work. The products' names are aggressively uninspired---"Electronica EL47", "Lamp Set 'Ruslan'".
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