My next computer was a Heathkit H-100 built from a kit in 1983. It cost a bit more than the Sinclair. The H-100 was a dual CPU, dual O/S machine running an Intel 8085 for CP/M and an 8086 for DOS. It had 196K of RAM, dual 360K floppy drives and could drive both a 16-color and a monochrome monitor simultaneously. The kit with only 128K of RAM and a single floppy cost about $4,000. I bought the extra RAM and floppy drive from Henry Fale's Quikdata. My wife wrote her first book on it as we leaped into the 20th century computer world. I and the hardware stayed mere days ahead of her as she wrote and delivered perfectly typed copy to the publisher thanks to a 10 cps daisy wheel printer. Over the years, I've done many upgrades to it.

During the time Heathkit made computers, they were considered the best in their class. Add to that the learning process of kit building and the stellar support from the company and you had the best value in the early days of computing.

Heathkit also had an enormous aftermarket support community. This came about mostly because the computers were kits and a large part of Heath's initial market was electronics hobbyists who not only built their own computers, but programmed them as well and even designed hardware mods, upgrades and accessories for them. During the peak of Heath's popularity, the Heath Computer conventions attracted dozens of vendors, most of whom were Heath-specific.

Heathkits were discontinued in late 1991.

Other Heathkit sites

Wikipedia entry
Heathkit.org
history
schematics and manuals
more schematics and manuals QLS.net has changed servers and managers. The schematics pages appear to have gone away. I'll try to locate them. Meanwhile the link is dead.
Bill Wilkinson's Heath page
Google will find many Heathkit related sites for you.

Other Interests
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the Horn - Music - Books -
Computers - Heathkits - Hopi silver work - China -

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