At that time, there was a need to be able to write the programs in Assembly Language, a more cryptic way of communicating and programming computers. There were no operating systems at that time like MS-DOG (Errr "DOS"). It was clearly better than writing in hex code, which at that time, was how Woz was entering his programs. Most programmers programmed machine code in hexadecimal instead of decimal or octal. It didn't take long to know that "LDA" was "4D" (I might be wrong here folks, just giving examples).

I implemented "Cross Assemblers" in BASIC which ran on Alex's Call Computer machine we all lovingly call Cleopatra, or "Cleo" for short. At that time Les Vogel was System Admin. and Alex's favorite boy for this year. I still had the God account on Cleo because Les got bogged down with Manager, a nice extensible database program that Alex was selling use of on Cleo. I went to the task of writing a "Tracker" program that kept track of my Cross assembler's usage so I could show it to Alex to give me leverage in asking him to give me royalties on it's usage. We never agreed on an amount to charge the user, as I didn't want the usage surcharge to go over 50 cents/hour. Soon after, we dropped the idea.

Randy Wiggonton was also working at Call Computer, and had access the Call Computer's Public Library account. Call Computer was using the BTI-3000 operating system from Basic Timesharing. It offered NO system level programming, which made things very difficult.

Randy went on to write the 6502 cross assembler which Woz eventually used to write the Apple ][ Monitor ROM. A Cross Assembler was used to take English language mnemonics and convert them into the raw machine code of binary numbers. It essentially looked for strings like "LDA", and when encountered, substituted "4D" hex in its place. Of course, it calculated forward referenced jump points and inserted the correct jump offsets. It also added an option that permitted a "hex" dump to paper tape to allow the home-brewer to quickly load the program into their home-brew computers.

Paper tape readers were just now showing up in electronic surplus stores, and I knew this would be a desired feature. Every weekend, the computer terminal room at Call Computer was strewn around with cables, and haywired power supplies as these new pioneers were developing future products like CP/M, MS-DOS, and other pioneering work.

The cross assemblers got a lot of use. As my interest in building my own computer took more of my time, and I had just finished the Motorola 6800 cross assembler, I immediately started working on my own computer designed around the Motorola and some new dynamic RAM(An untold 128K worth), and a 32K computer. I wanted to write my own operating system, but soon my interests changed and I stuck more towards musical applications. While helping people run my cross assembler, someone comes in and hands me a flyer announcing the first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club.

At that time, I was also working at KSJO as chief engineer, and had to make a showing at this stupid office party, hosting a new Pop tune band called the "Tubes". As I walk in the office, I see these huge radio tubes hanging from the ceiling, and a bunch of rowdy rock and rollers doing whatever they do at parties. After a few hello's and nods to a few chief broadchasing (Ooops- broadcasting) executives that own a chain of radio stations from Seattle to LA., I head back to where I thought Gordon's place was, then noticed that it was way too late.

So, I missed the first Homebrew Computer Club hosted at Gordon French's Garage. Gordon was a model train fanatic of immense proportion. He has miniature steam powered locomotives, and a whole slew of toys and things. Word spread that almost 30 people were crammed into Gordon's garage. There were many more meetings to come later.

The 2nd Homebrew Computer meeting

Held at Arastradero school, close to 75 people showed up. At this time, Lee Felsenstein took the pointer, started waving it around, and setting up some organization to the meetings. There was a "Mapping" period, where one can raise their hand and ask "Do you know where I can get cheap memory parts?", and Marty Spergel would get up and do his spiel of a good deal that can be had if you purchase the chips through him. It was a time when if you had a gnarly problem, you could bring it to the "Club" and someone smarter than you would get you on the right track.

Soon, MITS from New Mexico came up to do a demo of the Altair 8080. It was the first computer kit you had to solder together and build yourself. Steve Dompier came forth with the first IMSAI application program that involved the most unique output device, a transistor radio. After fiddling around with the front panel switches (The most rudimentary input device) for a while, we heard very clearly "Fool on the hill" being played on the portable radio while it was sitting at a certain spot on the computer. Everyone cheered and that Homebrew Computer meeting was one of the most amazing experiences I've had.

Soon after the Homebrew computer meetings, the Byte Shop on El Camino Real in Mountain View opened up as the words first retail computer store. It offered surplus paper tape readers, IMSAI kits, a host of RAM chips (2102's were really popular and cheap). I remember that day well, it had snowed in Mountain View for the first time in recorded history and we all went outside to experience the snowfall.

Some if it actually stuck on the ground, making this place really surreal and almost like a dream. A place that never snows to be covered in white really was quite trippy. I hung around the store, talking to all the customers coming in, learning the latest gossip on the newest chips. But I always got the most from going to the Homebrew Computer clubs. Soon after that, Woz was to reveal the first Apple computer.