My interest in personal computers, started in 1976 when a friend of mine showed me an IMSAI 8080 computer that he had just built from a kit. It looked very much like a typical minicomputer of the day, with sense switches and lights. It was programmed in BASIC by paper tape attached to the side of a teletype machine.

 

From that point on, microcomputers were introduced with great frequency, and much of the new technology was developed in Silicon Valley - right where I worked.

 

I had the opportunity to personally meet some of the famous pioneers of the industry  including Steve Jobs (Apple), Gary Kildall (CP/M), Bob Frankston (VisiCalc) and Adam Osborne. I was also an early adopter of the Internet, and have been online since 1994.

 

See if you can recognize some of these notable technology highlights from the early days of personal computing. I owned a few models, and have had hands on experience with several of them...