fire in the valley by freiberger and swaine

The following excerpts are from the new edition of Fire In The Valley --

EXCERPT ONE * Development of the Microprocessor

EXCERPT TWO * The Transistor and the Nobel Prize

EXCERPT THREE * DEC and Employee Desires

EXCERPT FIVE * Ed Roberts and the MITS Altair

THE FIRST HOBBYIST PERSONAL COMPUTER
The first hobbyist personal computer is a fascinating tale involving characters like Popular Electronics editors, Les Solomon and Art Salsberg, and the technologist/writers who submitted articles to PE:

Salsberg & Solomon Designs were being submitted to PE, but they weren't from the computer superstars, and Solomon and Salsberg found them unimpressive. Solomon described what he was seeing as "a rat's nest of wires," and Salsberg agreed with his assessment: "They were terrible designs. They were tinker toys. They were kludges."

Solomon wanted to feature a really good design that he could develop into a ground-breaking story. So, he encouraged his guys to send him their best designs, and they took his request seriously. A colorful and ebullient editor with a wry New York wit, Les Solomon was known as "Uncle Sol" to his contributors. He developed a close relationship with them, carrying on lengthy telephone conversations and visiting their labs and workshops whenever he could. Solomon regaled his contributors with far-fetched stories and entertained them with magic tricks, most notably a stunt that involved levitating a stone table. Part of what made Uncle Sol fascinating was in trying to figure out what was for real and what was a complete put-on. But one thing was certain: He was serious about getting the best material for his magazine.

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Fire in the Valley by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine


Salsberg & Solomon	Designs were being submitted to PE, but they weren't from the computer superstars, and Solomon and Salsberg found them unimpressive. Solomon described what he was seeing as "a rat's nest of wires," and Salsberg agreed with his assessment: "They were terrible designs. They were tinker toys. They were kludges."
Solomon wanted to feature a really good design that he could develop into a ground-breaking story. So, he encouraged his guys to send him their best designs, and they took his request seriously. A colorful and ebullient editor with a wry New York wit, Les Solomon was known as "Uncle Sol" to his contributors. He developed a close relationship with them, carrying on lengthy telephone conversations and visiting their labs and workshops whenever he could. Solomon regaled his contributors with far-fetched stories and entertained them with magic tricks, most notably a stunt that involved levitating a stone table. Part of what made Uncle Sol fascinating was in trying to figure out what was for real and what was a complete put-on. But one thing was certain: He was serious about getting the best material for his magazine.