I was a science grad student at Stanford and had some undergrad digital electronics labs and digital breadboarding summer jobs. So I read about build-it-yoursel

I was a science grad student at Stanford and had some undergrad digital electronics labs and digital breadboarding summer jobs. So I read about build-it-yourself computer club that met at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Auditorium. I think I read it in some mimeographed computer newsletter the Stanford Math Library received which was a predecessor to Byte Magazine. Getting to SLAC by bicycle was nasty because it was up a challenging hill. People demoed their projects there, often Rasberry-PI-type contraptions that did this and that. I remember one group managed to get their hands on a cast-off mini-computer and would code it through front panel dip-switches to make music and light designs. A bare mini-computer in those days cost a couple of annual salaries. Well the two Steves were demoing and almost-turnkey micro-computer board. You had to add a power supply, television and keyboard. And it was in a wooden case. Plastic computer cases were another year or two in the future. I thought a turnkey PC was boring. All the fun was soldering together your own contraption in my view then. Several other groups were selling turnkey computer boards too. One was called CroMemCo named after a Stanford dorm. which they operated from. Apple didnt really distinguish itself until the next product the Apple II which was a "designed" product, not a boring metal case.