[realandreskytt]

Commodity hardware in the sense of “it is made but impossible to get hold of outside the place its made or Leningrad or Moscow and half what you get is wildly out if spec” as Soviet reality tended to be. Only aluminum plates were really a commodity where I grew up in the 80s.

[bigmonads]

I would recommend this article about impressions and facts to you: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont...

It's super good, carefully studied, and overall a well written read.