[auvrw]

perhaps the

> Obviously, this is a project for an advanced electronic hobbyist and computer enthusiast.

is somewhat tongue-in-cheek: this could be the thing to get a kid who's already soldered together a bunch of (less expensive) analog hobby kits .. or the adult who's into that sort of thing.

it's pretty much the same thing as building model cars, airplanes, etc. although it doesn't teach you exactly how the thing works, the perceptual task of doing the soldering and checking out the traces gives some idea of how things piece together.

as far as vintage electronics go, IBM PCs (probably?) aren't that difficult to find for those who're essentially interested in abstracting away from the hardware.