Garth Wood wrote:
> Moose wrote:
>
>> Nope. But I did build a HeathKit analog(ue) computer in 1968.
>> <http://moosemystic.net/Gallery/MPhotos/Home/Analog/>
>>
> Oh *man*, does that take me back.
>
> I'm amazed you kept it all these years.
Oh no, it wasn't even mine. I built it on consignment for some prof at
UC, played with it a bit "to make sure it was working correctly", then
passed it on and took the money.
> I used to drool over all the stuff in the HeathKit catalogues. Sad they came
> to an end...
>
At that time, I was working at a Heathkit store half a block from the US
campus. It was a tiny operation; I was head salesman, assistant manager
and assistant repairman, My brother Howard, who went on to become a
computer designer, was head serviceman and third salesman and Don, the
only real adult, was manager and second salesman.
We were one of only 2-3 non Heath owned retail outlets and they never
could figure out how we managed to sell so much stuff. Coming up on
Christmas, half the sales floor was stacked high with boxes of kits.
Berkeley was a perfect location and we had a very unusual guarantee. If
you fully followed the directions, we guaranteed it would work properly.
Some anxious people would actually build the kit and never plug it in
before bringing it in to be checked out. The vast majority of kits we
sold worked right away. Heathkit's instruction manual writers and
illustrators were astonishingly good.
Amazingly few were simply mis-assembled, and we offered to correct them
for a fee. I probably built something near a hundred kits, many for
myself starting long before I worked at the store, and more for people
who wanted one but couldn't see themselves doing the assembly. There was
a period there when Heath made the only decent inexpensive test
equipment and one where some of their Hi-fi/Stereo gear was some of the
best available, kit or not.
My last color TV left here maybe six years ago and was still going last
I heard. I still have several working kits, but none in regular use anymore.
Moose
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|