The TEC-1G is a direct descendant of the Talking Electronics Computer, known as the TEC-1, which was first published by the Australian electronics hobbyist magazine "Talking Electronics" between 1981 and 1991.

The TEC-1 was developed as a learning computer, designed to teach the basics of how a microprocessor works at the fundamental hardware and software level, and offered the ability to create and run simple programs in Z80 machine code. TE magazine covered the TEC-1 in six installments, known as "Issue 10" to "Issue 15".

An active TEC community has (re)formed through Facebook with new hardware designs, enhanced versions and various expansion options being offered by various contributors within the community.

The TEC-1G builds on both the TEC-1's base and recent history to modernize the overall design, address various design limitations and integrate many of the excellent add-ons into to a single PCB for the first time. The TEC-1G remains true to the original TE design goals: it is is built using only simple through-hole TTL logic chips so it is easily built and understood by the hobbyist. For the first time, the TEC-1G will also be fully open source, in both its hardware and software. The TEC-1G is the ultimate TEC-1!