COMPUTER

The first computer that appeared officially in Romania was HC 85, made in Romania at ?Electronica? Bucharest. It was some sort of computer. It did not resemble the computers from nowadays. Before HC 85 there were no computers and we did not import either. There were no stores like today where one could buy them. I guess it was forbidden. W had tight relations with Russia, less with the West. We had radios, Russian TVs but not from the West.

After ?85 you were allowed to have a computer because they were officially admitted. I know that you were not allowed to have a video or a satellite antenna. There was no Internet, although then the Internet was just at the beginning. I had a computer after ?85. Somebody had one for sale. I took it at a second-hand from that person. I paid 15.000 lei. It was a big square box. It had an attached tape recorder for cassettes. The keyboard was also incorporated. I used cassettes for programs and games. There was no monitor. I had a small Sport TV that I connected to the computer.

I would play, I could create certain programs, I would solve Math and Physics problems, I would draw, I could type texts. I could not listen to music, I could not see films. I could not connect myself to the Internet. And, anyway, it was not allowed because any connection with someone who lived abroad was carefully scrutinized.

The program used for these computers was BASIC. Later on, we had HC 90. I bought one in ?89. It was better than HC 85. In the ?80-s, the computer was in a rudimentary phase in Romania. It may have been because of the censorship, of the lack of freedom. In Romania, we were like in a cage, isolated from the world. That is why, the computer was difficult to acquire and it was not until after ?89 that the real computers appeared. (F.Z.N., 148)