front panel display for a modern PC

I'm curious why anyone would want a front panel with lights and switches. Except for some early IBM mainframe stuff, the number of systems that I've worked with that had no front panel vastly outnumber the ones that did. Indeed, the front panel on the MITS 8800 seemed to be a waste of good components and an anachronism at that. Better to take the costs of the panel and roll them into a good diagnostic ROM with loader. The S-100 followup machine that I used, an Integrand box, had only a reset button on the front panel. I never missed the switches. After the MITS box, I never owned another system with a blinkenlights-and- switches front panel. Just trying to understand. Cheers, Chuck -----REPLY----- Hi, I must have missed the whole "front panel on a microcomputer" thing too. I recall seeing microcomputers with front panels around but never owned one. It has always seemed to me a good boot ROM with monitor is the way to go. Vector Graphic did a good job with their Executive Monitor boot ROMs. I'd rather use a bus probe, logic probe, or VOM when I debug so it can be removed when the machine is finally working. That being said, I still think an IMSAI is a cool microcomputer and would love to get one some day. Thanks! Andrew Lynch