GoKawiilIn the mid-1970s, there were just a few computers in Canadian homes. A decade later, a worldwide personal computing frenzy was on and all kinds of computers for home and personal use were manufactured by the millions. The computer hobby movement—activities of hobbyists interested in computing—was one of the main contributing factors to that sudden change which Computer Hobby Movement in Canada exhibit intends to affirm and chronicle. This exhibit is dedicated to a decade-long computer hobby movement in Canada and its role in bringing computing into the homes of Canadians. It chronicles the movement's development and contributions by focusing on the Toronto Region Association of Computer Enthusiasts (TRACE) — arguably the earliest Canadian computer hobby organizations. Its history (1976-1985), as recorded in the club’s newsletter, documents, and oral histories, offers unique insights into a vibrant Canadian hobbyists’ movement interfaced with the electronics industry and society. It reflects and demarcates the main phases in personal computing's development. It points to the similarities between the Canadian and the American hobby movements as well as to their distinct features. TRACE history also reveals the challenges faced by the global North American computer hobby movement in its struggle to continuously redefine itself and stay socially relevant, a battle which it ultimately lost in the late 1980s but not without leaving a rich cultural legacy, not without making personal computing relevant and inclusive.
The origins The computer hobby movement grew out of a more than half-a-century-long tradition of radio and electrics hobbyism backed by a large variety of magazines such as the American Modern Electrics (renamed The Electrical Experimenter) and Popular Electricity in Plain English both launched in 1908, Radio-Craft, first published in 1929 (renamed Radio-Electronics), and Popular Electronics—perhaps one of the most influential hobby electronics magazines of the last century—which was launched in 1954. The radio and electrics hobbyism tradition in other countries also goes back a long way. In the U.K., Popular Wireless was offered in 1922, The Boys' Wireless News was launched in Australia in the same year, and Радиолюбитель [Radio Amateur] and Радио всем [Radio for Everybody] started to appear in the Soviet Union in 1924 and 1925, respectively.
▲ The covers of the premiere and early issues of: The Electrical Experimenter, Popular Electricity in Plain English, Radio-Craft, and Popular Electronics (top row, left-to right); The Boys' Wireless News, Popular Wireless, Радиолюбитель, and Радио всем (bottom row, left-to right). Since the end of the 1940s, computer enthusiasts and dedicated educators had been involved in a range of computing-related activities from the design of computer toys and educational aids to publishing and setting up computer social groups and organizations.
In 1966, the first such organization—the Amateur Computer Society (ACS)—was launched in the U.S. The ACS Newsletter was a forum for the exchange of information on computing among the growing number of computer enthusiasts. Although the computers of the 1960s were to big, to complex, and to expensive to be replicated by a hobbyist, ACS reported that some of its members constructed and experimented with their own rudimentary computers as early as 1966. The introduction of the microprocessor ("a computer on a chip" as the device was informally referred to) onto the market in the early 1970s triggered the outbreak of homebrew computer activities that spawned the North American computer hobby movement. From 1974, electronics enthusiasts were buying, building, and experimenting with rudimentary low-cost microprocessor-powered computers (or microcomputers) frequently offered to them in a kit, do-it-yourself form. All of a sudden, the movement found itself in the front line of personal computer revolution. The computer hobby movement in the U.S. had a strong influence on the early developments of personal computing worldwide. However, the computer hobby activities of the 1970s and early 1980s were neither restricted to the U.S. nor were they homogeneous. Hobbyists in Asia, Australia, and Europe were frequently building and experimenting with locally designed and manufactured computers. Their hobby activities were influenced by local conditions and had a considerable impact on domestic home and personal computer markets which were developing in unique ways and at a unique pace, providing further evidence that technological developments are not always globally uniform and that technology is culturally dependent.
TRACE is born In late 1975, several employees of R&D division of Control Data Canada (CDC) located in Mississauga, Ontario, began their informal after-work meetings to talk about advancements in microelectronics and the possibility of designing rudimentary microcomputers for personal use. The person who played the central role in bringing hobby computer enthusiasts together at CDC and who felt most strongly about forming a hobbyists’ club was Harold Melanson, an American software engineer "on loan" to CDC which was a Canadian subsidiary of Control Data Corporation, Minneapolis, Minnesota. I was familiar with microprocessors both from the professional journals and the hobby magazines, Melanson later recollected.
I had always wanted to build my own computer. I knew a handful of people at work who had like interests, and thought that there must be others in the area who wanted to build micro[processor]-based systems. It seemed like a good idea to pool our knowledge, share parts sources, have swap meets, etc. The first meeting of the Toronto area microcomputer enthusiasts took place in Melanson’s apartment on January 23, 1976. The first one-page bulletin prepared by Melanson tentatively named the group “The ? Microcomputer Group of Greater Toronto.”
At the April meeting, the group adopted its official name — the Toronto Region Association of Computer Enthusiasts (TRACE). The formation of TRACE was not an isolated event on the computer hobby scene of the mid-1970s. In fact, at the time of TRACE’s first informal meetings, the North American microcomputer hobby movement was about one year old. It was set into motion by the Mark-8 microcomputer project published by Jonathan Titus on the pages of Radio-Electronics in July 1974. To Titus’ surprise, his microcomputer construction project resonated strongly with the Radio-Electronics' readers who not only were building the computer but also started to organize dedicated Mark-8 clubs and groups. Another hobby microcomputer was offered to the electronics enthusiasts half a year later. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics contained the first part of an article by Edward Roberts and William Yates describing the Altair 8800 microcomputer as the “World’s First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models...” For just $395, Roberts’ company Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems offered the Altair 8800 microcomputer in kit form. The computer had a profound impact on the computer enthusiasts and quickly became their hardware icon.
The Homebrew Computer Club (HCC) was one of the most influential early microcomputer hobby organizations. Formed in San Francisco Bay Area in early March 1975, it shortly attracted a large number of computer enthusiasts. The early membership of HCC was diverse; it included computer novices as well as people with considerable hardware and software knowledge. Most of HCC's members were interested in microcomputers, many in building them, some in experimenting with them. There were also club members who regarded microcomputers as tools for social change as well as cultural and educational advancement.
By contrast, the early members of TRACE were mostly computer professionals. However other enthusiasts of computing, of little or no expert computer knowledge, soon joined the club to build their first personal computers.
[T]hey all shared that invisible bond which ties together members of any hobby, wrote Garry Wheeler in the January 1978 issue of TRACE Newsletter.
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