In 1975 the personal computer revolution got its start at the Homebrew Computer Club. The club is where Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs showed off the first Apple computer and other pioneering geeks of the time shared their designs.
"It was the most important thing in my life, and every two weeks I lived for it," Wozniak told CNET in 2005, speaking of the Homebrew Computer Club. "I was too shy to even speak at all. The only two times I ever spoke were to introduce the Apple I and the Apple II."
On November 11, the Homebrew Computer Club is reuniting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., with the aid of a Kickstarter campaign. At least 25 original members of the club are expected to attend the event, including Wozniak; Ted Nelson, the father of hypertext; club co-founder Gordon French; and Lee Felsenstein, who designed the world's first mass-produced portable computer.
The group has raised more than $27,000 so far to fund the event, surpassing the original $16,000 goal. If the fund-raising hits $30,000, a professional photographer will document the event and make the photos available via a Creative Commons license and the Internet Archive. If $40,000 is raised, a microdocumentary will be filmed and made available under the same terms.