Anybody here ever build a Heathkit computer?

[Walter Mitty]

http://oldcomputers.net/heathkit-h89.html

If I had it all to do over again, I would definitely have built one of these.  I wonder what it ran in the way of software.  Was it an early CP/M machine?

I built a stereo amp from a kit once.  It was Dynaco.  Dynaco was easier to build than Heathkit.  And some audiophiles told me it was better.  I can't confirm or deny that.

[The Gorn]

My dad built a lot of Knight-Kits - lab equipment like volt-ammeter kits, a few stereo components, a few shortwave radio receivers. Mainly because it provided some savings, not because he really wanted the learning experience. (You can't learn very much from an electronics kit, anyway - construction is regimented with instructions.) I don't recall any Heathkits.

Heathkit sold the Rolls Royce of electronics hobbyist kits - expensive and well regarded - Knight Kits were the Chevies.

I would never have recommended to my dad that he attempt to built a Heathkit computer kit. The complexity of the PCBs was so high that it was quite likely that you'd botch the job. The kits my dad were comfortable with used point to point wiring.

He did buy a Timex/Sinclair ZX1000 kit as a gift for one of my brothers back in 1981, and when I came in the door at Christmas time he sprang on me that I had to build it so they'd have something to give my brother.  I was successful with it, but it was stressful (tiny, tiny traces on the printed circuit board.)

[TRexx]

My father built a HeathKit AM/FM stereo receiver/amplifier in the early 60s.  My brother still has it in his home office. Works great. 

[benali72]

Very cool, fun site to look up old computers. Good pictures of old boxes. Thanks for posting.

Apparently the thing ran HDOS (Heath's branded version of DOS), according to the description. 

Hard to believe it's been over 30 years since the early days of PC's. That happy young couple on the beach looking at their Heathkit (exactly where I'd use my desktop computer too!) must be in their 60s by now.

[The Gorn]

That happy young couple on the beach looking at their Heathkit (exactly where I'd use my desktop computer too!) must be in their 60s by now.

Lol. The guy looks like a guido. I sort of remember this ad from the time.

Caption: "Heeer, sweetie. Let me show you how dis ting works. Yo, you get inta da DOS like dis."

[Origisaurus]

I wonder what it ran in the way of software.  Was it an early CP/M machine?

As others have noted, it came with a "proprietized"  flavor of DOS.   Any enterprising geek could find a copy of CP/M, and it would run on any x86 machine.


I built 3 kits over the years - AM receiver, 8-band receiver for Mother to listen to foreign-language broadcasts (every time I looked it was tuned to "Prairie Home Companion" or Boone and Erikson) and an AM/FM clock radio.