Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This is an absolutely wonderful recollection, particularly because it tries to cover as many "fall through the cracks" microcomputers as it can - including the many S-100 systems of the era. It's amazing how much first-hand contact Stan had with the early players simply by virtue of opening the East Coast's first computer store. The book itself, compiled from his column in Computer Shopper, has a really old-style Garrison Keiller feel to it - the tone is that of an "I was there" hobbyist writing for the benefit of other hobbyists. Big points for coverage of the ultra-obscure Video Brain and the Exidy Sorcerer, along with flying in the corporate jet with Charles Tandy in the earliest days of the TRS-80. Despite its completeness, coverage of the Commodore-Amiga is almost completely left out. For that, read "On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore" by Brian Bagnall.

Stan Veit has brought his personal observations to this wonderful book covering the early years of personal computing. Veit is a microcomputer pioneer, having opened one of the first computer stores in the nation (Computer Mart in NYC) and having been editor of Computer Shopper, a magazine that, in the old days, was so thick with ads you could use it as a boat anchor.

Stan relates how he got laid off from his job as a technical writer in 1975 and decided to start a business, and one area where he could get in on the ground floor was personal computing. The Altair, along with other kit comuters and components, was for sale by mail order, but, Veit figured, supposing people could walk into a store and buy a computer, along with helpful books and free advice? Veit's store gave New Yorkers their very first chance to see and try using a real computer. Veit gives ample credit to his wife Dede who worked as a New York City teacher to support the couple during the lean beginning years.

Over the years he was involved with selling and writing about microcomputers Veit got to know many of the luminaries of early computing, including Les Solomon of Popular Electronics, who had kicked off the revolution when he promoted the Altair and featured it on the magazine's cover in January 1975. Veit had a chance to try all the early S-100 computers and this book is a source of information about each one. One of his interesting stories is about Sphere, a company in Utah that produced products that Veit says never worked well or never worked at all. He also explains that these early companies were so poorly financed that often customers paid Computer Mart in advance for the product and the store passed the money on to the manufacturer who then built the product. It was all forward financing.

Veit's book is so valuable for its eye-witness accounts of legendary events that I used it as a source for my own book, Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution. My book is about the years my husband David and I spent selling software for the Radio Shack TRS-80. Veit has a wonderful story about a visit from Charles Tandy who wanted to discuss an upcoming product, the Model I computer they planned to sell in their 3500 Radio Shack stores nationwide. Tandy invited Veit to fly back to Fort Worth in his corporate jet and see this new addition to the fledgling microcomputer market. When he saw what they had, Veit was convinced people would pay $900 for a microcomputer this good. But Charles Tandy informed him that the TRS-80 would sell for $600. When Tandy asked him how many they should build, Veit told him he'd better build at least 50,000 of them to meet the instant demand it would create. But the TRS-80 went on to exceed even this expectation and Tandy Corp piled up over 200,000 orders in the first year alone!

Stan Veit's book is a valuable source for anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating, and largely unkown, history of personal computing.

This is a great book on the early days of the PC. Although the book was published in 1993, most of the subject matter covers the ten year period from 1975 thru 1985. Individual chapters cover these computer companies and their products: Altair, IMSAI, South West Technical, Apple, Cromemco, Sphere, Ohio Scientific, Processor Technology, the digital group, Radio Shack, Commodore, Atari, Texas Instruments, North Star, Osborne, Sinclair (Timex), Vector Graphics, and IBM. There are a number of other chapters that cover such topics as the Computer Mart (Stan's computer store which was the second retail computer store in the world), pc magazines, pc's that never made it, etc.

Stan writes this book from a very personal level, as he conducted business with many of these companies while running the Computer Mart. He rubbed elbows with the likes of Steve Jobs, Charles Tandy, and other earlier pc pioneers. Reading this book is very much like having a relaxing conversation with Stan over a beer. I should say several beers, as Stan has a lot of great stories to tell.

If you want to try the book out for free, numerous chapters of the book are on the site [...]. Trying to find a copy of the book at a reasonable price can be a bit of a challenge. Used paperback copies are going for around $[...], and the hardback at $[...].

I was fortunate to get the hardback edition from Alexander Books[...] who published the book, for $[...]. I believe I got their last copy, but you may want to contact them. I had an email conversation with Ralph Roberts of Alexander Books, who also wrote the foreward to the book. I asked him how may copies were originally published, and he said about 5,000. He mentioned that Stan and he have been kicking around the idea of republishing the book. Let's hope they do.