Old-school computers like this homebrew IMSAI 8080 remind us how far we’ve come. Originally built in 1975, this greenscreen monster runs Zork like a champ using homebrew boards that cost about $1 each. It’s absolutely amazing that this sort of processing power now comes in something the size of a wristwatch and photorealistic graphics are possible on devices the size of this thing’s memory card. Check out the full build site and revel in the magic of retro-computing.










I had a friend that build one of these, but he didn’t have anything so fancy as a CRT — he hooked up a 75 baud surplus Teletype. Can’t believe that I was highly impressed at the time!