[vcf-midatlantic] Bernie S paid a visit!

[Herb Johnson]

> Bernie S paid a visit on May 16 at the very end of our repair workshop. He
> had brought some items for Dmitry. One thing was a custom built 6502 system
> with all sorts of wires. Another one was a custom built Apple // clone.
> Very interesting to see all these items.

The photos reveal, some kind of late 1970's, hand-wired cassette-based 
computer of some sort. And some kind of massively reworked 
possibly-Apple-II motherboard surrounded by hand-wired boards.

Jeff, were you told some kind of history associated with these 
constructions? Otherwise for anyone not alive in the era, these will be 
indecipherable pieces of chips and boards. And, that applies to most 
people interested today. I'll give some interpretation, otherwise this 
stuff looks awful from a 21st century view; and that saddens me.

  Without my seeing them myself - I was on campus but unaware - all I can
say from the era, is that many techs were obliged to wire up their own 
computers from pieces of other digital technology. Why? Because 
computers were not available or too expensive on the one hand, and 
pieces and parts of older computing tech were available cheaply on the 
other hand. And some people had the ability, tools and parts to design 
(or copy) and hand-wire their own boards.

Those skills were valuable in the years before (and after) personal 
computers started becoming available. When personal computers became 
CHEAP and available, this technology was abandoned - that's why it's all 
dusty and rusty. And so that's what you see now.

Regards, Herb


-- 
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