Bill writes in his Web article:
Some say the golden era of “vintage computers” occurred during mid-1970’s S-100 homebrew-era and lasted until about 1987. This is when the home appliance and small business computing markets emerged. Computers became practical to a wider population.
I was in my 20's in the 1970's as a student and working electrical engineer on microprocessors. I"ve worked with some of those computers to the present day. So I'm qualified to speak about the period, express my informed opinions. But: it's Bill's Web site and article and thread. I won't compete by posting another article. I'll make a few points I think are important. From my experiences, I can say that a lot happened in the years Bill mentions. Too many kinds of things, to sum up with one phrase like "golden era". also: every generation has their early days which they retrospectively think of as "golden". For Millennials, it's playing video games in their bedroom - not building an IMSAI memory board. History is different, for people of different ages and experiences. He's right about emerging markets, because of course there WAS NO MARKET for personal or dedicated computing products and devices, until the microprocessor and related digital IC's were created; and then understood; and then became cheap. That created opportunities for the markets that emerged. What markets? Video-gaming computers. Single board computers for training and for hobbyist self-learning. Computers of many boards, for industrial control and the first home/business/scientific computers. Portable computers (lugable before laptop). And eventually: standardized desktop computers produced in quantity to reduce price. Each market has a history of its own, origins and consequences. Also: this idea of "homebrew" as a kind of distinction. I don't like the term, it makes the idea of home construction and modification as something like making illegal whiskey. This part, I'll have to explain, it's my history but not the history of people younger than I. The facts are: in the 1950's and 60's and 70's, lots of people built and repaired things at home, using shop tools of industrial quality. Many people had JOBS and businesses to repair and manufacture, small shops of a few or dozens of people. Trade schools, mail-order education, self-education - all ways to learn a trade, get a job, *start your own company*. This was common activity at the time - read any science or hobby magazine of the period for the advertisements, the how-to articles. Also: if you are going to talk about 1980's personal computing, there's a single, seismic event you cannot ignore. *The introduction of the IBM PC in 1981*. The world's foremost computer company, announced it was ENTIRELY ACCEPTABLE for a Fortune 500 company (definition of a big important international company) to purchase what was previously a toy, a pipe dream. Quoting from the era: "nobody was ever fired for recommending IBM". That's dramatic, but it also happens to be true. With the 1981 IBM PC, MS-DOS became the standard. The ISA bus became the standard. The 8088/86 became standard. And I assure you: the microcomputer world fractured into those who followed IBM - and those who were left behind (in the opinion of the winners who transitioned to the IBM PC). And once IBM PC's could outperform the old but useful CP/M machines - they went into the dumpster. (that's where I got part of my collection!) However: most of the early IBM PC MS-DOS software, was reassembled CP/M software. All that CP/M and S-100 and Z80 / 8080 work was not scrapped: it was retooled for the IBM PC. IBM's success was built on preceding technology and technologists. Another major event in the 80's, was the rise and fall of "home videogaming". Over several years, a bunch of companies produced video game computers. They all competed and drove each other's prices down. Then the market crashed because of those financial losses, and because home computers (IBM PC's among others) of growing availability could run games too, faster, with more graphics. Graphics became a thing. My point? History matters, your time in history matters, and what you value (or know about) matters to you and people you know. Too much happened in microprocessor computing in its first decade, to lump it all into one historic track. The period Bill describes, is so far back in time for most people, they don't know how to make sense of it - except from recent experiences which are very different from those of the time. So it comes down to: what you care about, because of what you know, generally from your own time and place. "History" is about learning the other stuff. Regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net