It was a fun time. My new wife was very patient with me during our trips from the south Bay Area up to Santa Rosa. I would stop at every computer store along the way.
I assembled an IMSAI 8080 that I bought from "Kentucky Fried Computers" in Berkeley. Many early computer enthusiasts used electro-mechanical teletypes to interface with their computers. I wanted to make my own equivalent with a tv monitor and an electronic keyboard.
I well remember the day when a guy in one of the computer stores explained to me how the handshake interface worked to pass a byte to the monitor card. It was the last step I needed before being able to boot up my IMSAI and get the "Ready" prompt. What a satisfying day.
I still have the IMSAI computer above the rafters in my garage. I hope someday to fire it up for the amusement of my grandson who is three. It'll be a while I think.
Remember core memory?
The 1st modern confuser I ever worked on was based on the 8080 chipset, a Zenith Z100.
That was cutting edge in 1980.