The Homebrew Computer Club where the Apple I got its start is deservedly famous—but it’s far from tech history’s only community gathering centered on CPUs. Throughout the 70s and into the 90s, groups around the world helped hapless users figure out their computer systems, learn about technology trends, and discover the latest whiz-bang applications. And these groups didn’t stick to Slacks, email threads, or forums; the meetings often happened IRL.
But to my dismay, many young technically-inclined whippersnappers are completely unaware of computer user groups’ existence and their importance in the personal computer’s development. That’s a damned shame. Our current reality may largely be isolated to screens, but these organizations helped countless enthusiasts find community because of them. Computer groups celebrated the industry’s fundamental values: a delight in technology’s capabilities, a willingness to share knowledge, and a tacit understanding that we’re all here to help one another.
And gosh, they were fun.
I wonder if we’ll ever see a rebound, the pendulum swinging back, where people who grew up in the screen age long for more personal contact and reignite the interest in these old-fashioned user groups. After the current crisis is over, of course.
Hacker Spaces are an attempt to recreate the same in-person vibe, but a bigger problem IMO is the fact that most people’s interest in computers these days is driven by money and not curiosity. This really changes the nature of the personal relationships that develop in the community and makes people more competitive, more private, and less cooperative about their innovations.
The Apple I is a perfect example. When they completed it, they showed it to their club. If it had happened today, the first instinct would be to file patents and demonstrate the finished product to potential investors.
Of course, the curiosity-driven computers enthusiasts still exists. You just have to work harder to find them.
Linux user groups and their install parties are probably the nearest thing that comes to my mind.
loic,
I really liked the linux user group I went to. They covered all kinds of topics, but as a practical matter the university started issuing parking tickets and it prompted ended that. The group was free but depended on donations to cover $70/hr rent that the school charged, so it felt petty as hell that they were issuing parking tickets to non-students including myself at night when the campus was nearly completely empty aside from some clubs. They stopped having meetings there and I haven’t done anything like that since.
There’s plenty of retro computing festivals out there, and many groups, though they communicate online, also hold meet-ups and swap-meets.
It’s particularly common in groups for more esoteric computer systems, where parts are not easily sourced, and documentation and knowledge is hard to find.
The NYCBUGs and LUGs kept my career going as a PFY. This new age of COVID, fondleslabs and social networking deserves the reshaping of the infrastructure of the User groups. *Sigh, bye bye BSD chicks…*
We still have several in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. While attendance is small (memories of 300+ attended meetings) now and the age (generally) of the people attending has gotten a lot older (myself being a primary example maybe of “age”), just listening to what everyone is working on still fascinates me.
So, kudos to DFWUUG and NTLUG and Dallas Apple Admins and all the rest (as mentioned, there are many still active).
Remember the days when the documentation for a computer consisted of a schematic diagram? Or how about getting a surplus Minuteman guidance computer complete with a section of the nose cone (nuclear ordinance not included)? Or designing and implementing your own machine instruction?
User groups of various sorts have been around forever and will continue on. Those that dwelled on computers are simply a snapshot in time. Great to reminisce, but time to move on.
Yeah, the retro groups are having somewhat of a resurgence in recent years, with some previously disbanded usergroups reforming and expanding. I mainly pay attention to the Amiga community events, but there are probably a dozen or more different Amiga usergroups scattered across the UK that hold regular meetups, and a few Acorn groups too. There are also a number of large annual events in some communities, such as Amiga 34 in Germany and Amiga Ireland. These are typically weekend-long events attended by hundreds of people, but you can still get a lot of the community vibe from them.
I would like to think that AI is the new PC from a homebrew perspective. It’s leading edge and there are quite a few focused groups on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ai.philosophy/ They were a little more interesting during the AI winter prior to 2015. Similar to the East German Computer Clubs that thrived before the wall fell. https://www.zeit.de/digital/games/2018-11/computer-games-gdr-stasi-surveillance-gamer-crowd . Winter could come again if they keep driving ML as the cure all. Then a breakthrough might happen in a basement somewhere.