History of Microchess - Peter Jennings
On page 14 of the April 1976 issue of Byte Magazine appeared a new product announcement for the MOS Technology Kim-1. On the facing page, a full-page ad proclaimed its availability.
For $245, you could buy a fully assembled Kim-1 Microcomputer System (Not a kit!) with 1024 bytes of static RAM, a 23 key keyboard, 6 character hexadecimal LED display, an audio cassette interface, and 15 bidirectional programmable I/O pins.
Since the announcement of the MITS Altair, a year earlier, I had been very interested in acquiring a computer. But, just out of school, with student loans still outstanding, the cost was a major issue. The price of the Kim-1 was much more attractive than that of the 8080 S-100 bus systems I had seen advertised, and the fact that it was assembled and ready to use made it even more appealing.
It is also worth noting that $245 in 1976 would be over US$800 today and almost C$1300 in Canada. At the time, the Canadian dollar was worth slightly more than the US dollar. That has also changed.
