Amazing work. I am the same age às the author and also would love to tinker with old hardware. This article taught me that I can do that with emulators all the while using modern developer tools! That’s very motivating, will see if I can get started. My first computer was a PC XT 386 IIRC, maybe I can do the same kind of thing on that.
Emulators are wonderful, I got into assembly for the 6502 processor used in the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) and it's been an absolute blast, there is something so inherently satisfying and almost zen-like in it.