(via Retrothing/ Kenbakit) John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 was the first PC available on the market and it has just been re-released as a $999 KENBAK-1 Series 2 reproduction. This cool Star Trek-inspired machine was announced in the September 1971 issue of Scientific American, with a price tag of "only" $750...


KENBAK-1was designed before the microprocessor revolution, so the system logic was built around small and medium scale ICs. MOS shift registers provided a mere 256 bytes of memory. Just like i nthe original Star Trek the front panel featured a row of incandescent blinky lights instead of LEDs: pure retro hardware porno!! There are less than ten kits still available, so this is way more difficult to get than a Wii...


The above picture was made by placing a reproduction Kenbak-1 Series 2 PCB on top of the vintage Kenbak-1 PCB and shining a light at them.  The light passing through the holes proves that the reproduction PCBs are very accurate, down to the placement of holes!  The replica board is identical except for the text "Homebrew 2007" and "http://www.kenbakkit.com".  This is to help with counterfeit units.