The Homebrew Computer Club was a computer hobbyist club. Its first meeting was held in March 1975 at a member's garage in Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California. Though the Homebrew members were hobbyists, most of them had an electrical engineering or programming background. They came to the meetings to talk about the Altair 8800 and other technical topics and to exchange schematics and programming tips.

From the ranks of this club came the founders of many microcomputer companies, including Bob Marsh, Adam Osborne, and Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Since the first Homebrew Computer Club meeting, other hobby computer clubs have emerged all around the world. For example, The Netherlands Homebrew Computer Club emerged with members meeting near the town of Utrecht. The HCC (Hobby Computer Club) as it is called still exists has tens of thousands of members, publishing several magazines and providing internet access.

See also

• The 1984 book Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy has more information about the Homebrew Computer Club and the companies that sprang from it. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are living legends today from what they started and introduced to the Club.

• What the Dormouse Said is a 2005 account of the whole movement, including the club.

External links

• Stephen Wozniak, "Homebrew and How the Apple Came to Be" in Steve Ditlea, ed., Digital Deli, 1984.
• Memoir of a Homebrew Computer Club Member
• The Netherlands Home Computer Club website (in Dutch)
• Homebrew Computer Club Newsletters
• Life Outside the Mainframe: Remembering Fred Moore

Computer clubs | 1975 establishments

Homebrew Computer Club | El Club Homebrew computer | Homebrew Computer Club | HCC