Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, September 1976
The
Homebrew Computer Club was an early
computer hobbyist club in
Silicon Valley, which met (under that name) from
March 5,
1975 to roughly 1977. Several very high-profile
hackers and IT entrepreneurs emerged from its ranks, including the founders of
Apple Inc.History
The Homebrew Computer Club was an informal group of electronic enthusiasts and technically-minded hobbyists who gathered to trade parts,
circuits, and information pertaining to
DIY construction of computing devices. It was started by
Gordon French and
Fred Moore after the dissolution of the
People's Computer Company. They both were interested in maintaining a regular, open forum for people to get together to work on making computers more accessible to everyone.The first meeting was held in March
1975 in Gordon French's garage in
Menlo Park,
San Mateo County, California. Subsequent meetings were held at an auditorium at the
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
After the more-or-less "formal" meetings the participants often reconvened at "The Oasis," a bar and grill on El Camino Real in nearby
Menlo Park, recalled years later by a member as "Homebrew's other staging area."
The 1999 made-for-television movie
Pirates of Silicon Valley (and the book on which it is based,
Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer) describes the role the Homebrew Computer Club played in creating the first personal computers.
Many of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club continue to meet (), having formed the , named after the Motorola (now
Freescale) 6800 microprocessor. Occasionally and variously renamed after the release of the 68000, 6809, and other microprocessors, the group continues to meet monthly in
Cupertino, California.
Members
Though the Homebrew members were hobbyists, most of them had an
electronic engineering or
programming background. They came to the meetings to talk about the
Altair 8800 and other technical topics and to exchange
schematics and programming tips.
From the ranks of this club came the founders of many
microcomputer companies, including
Bob Marsh,
George Morrow,
Adam Osborne,
Lee Felsenstein (wielder of "the big stick", a form of moderation), and
Apple founders
Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak.
John Draper was also a member of the club.
Newsletter
The Homebrew Computer Club's newsletter was one of the most influential forces in the formation of the culture of
Silicon Valley. Created and edited by its members, it initiated the idea of the
Personal Computer, and helped its members build the original kit computers, like the Altair. One such influential event was the publication of
Bill Gates's Open Letter to Hobbyists, which lambasted the early hackers of the time for pirating commercial software programs.
The first issue of the newsletter was published on
March 15,
1975, and continued through several designs, ending after 21 issues in December 1977. The newsletter was published from a variety of addresses in the early days, but later submissions went to a P.O. box address in
Mountain View, California.
Other computer clubs
Since the first Homebrew Computer Club meeting, other hobby computer clubs have emerged all around the world. For example, in
The Netherlands a Homebrew Computer Club emerged with members meeting near the town of
Utrecht. Initially the
HCC (Hobby Computer Club), as it is called, had only a few dozen members and published a small stencilled in A5 format. They still exist today, have 180 thousand members (they are the biggest such association in the world), and from the small newsletter grew the magazine "". But they also publish several other and provide internet access and other consumer services.
One of the biggest and most influential computer clubs worldwide is the German based
Chaos Computer Club (CCC).
In the 1980s, a
Silicon Valley computer club called
The Computer Workshop emerged, operating mostly in
Sunnyvale, California and at
Stanford University.
See also
- BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh User Group)
- Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, a 1984 book by Steven Levy has more information about the Homebrew Computer Club and the companies that sprang from it. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are living legends today from what they started and introduced to the Club.
