A recent (2014) and intriguing concept for making a small computer that feels like it was made in the past is the PDP-11/Hack, which only uses a DEC J-11 microprocessor, some RAM, and a common UART.<p>The original concept By Brent Hilpert:<p><a href="http://madrona.ca/e/pdp11hack/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://madrona.ca/e/pdp11hack/index.html</a><p>Another implementation:<p><a href="https://www.chronworks.com/J11/" rel="nofollow">https://www.chronworks.com/J11/</a><p>A more complex and modern PDP-11/Hack:<p><a href="https://www.5volts.ch/pages/pdp11hack/" rel="nofollow">https://www.5volts.ch/pages/pdp11hack/</a>
From this wonderful article I found a PDF version of the Amateur Computer Society Newsletter 1966-1976.<p>Probably deserves it's own post. <a href="http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2012/03/102654910-05-01-acc.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/201...</a>
Really enjoyed this writeup. I'd come across Don Tarbell’s name before, but didn’t realize how influential he was in the pre-Altair era—and even in setting the stage for the Apple I. Fascinating stuff.<p>I also wasn’t aware of this site—some really well-researched essays on early computing. Great work, and thanks for putting this together!
Brings back memories. My first computer was a Heathkit-branded PDP-11 kit my dad assembled, with a dumb terminal, paper-type I/O, and no operating system. Later we had dual 8" floppies and a version of DEC's RT-11 OS, which was similar to CP/M. Read Byte magazine, and grew familiar with the names Altair, MITS, SWTPC, Imsai, etc., etc. Good times.
What an exciting time for the industry. Most of the companies are run by 20 or 30 somethings. Nobody has a plan for success. Everything is poised to explode once someone, anyone, figures out how to deliver product at scale. This also makes it clear how the software guys got so big so fast: making new copies of software is trivial compared to hardware manufacturing.