There was to me (it seemed at the time, given I was in middle school) a huge time gap between the AD&D Player's Handbook being released (April 1978) and when the DMG finally shipped (August 1979).
Dragon Magazine #22 (February 1979) eventually came out with a sneak peek at some of the tables needed to resolve combat.
Otherwise, yes, during that gap time there was a lot of homebrew solutions. Cobbling together elements from OD&D, Basic Edition (July 1977), 3rd party supplements (Arduin Grimoire, Jan 1977), etc. You did what you could with content gaps and often-conflicting sources.
Dragon Magazine #22 (February 1979) eventually came out with a sneak peek at some of the tables needed to resolve combat.
Otherwise, yes, during that gap time there was a lot of homebrew solutions. Cobbling together elements from OD&D, Basic Edition (July 1977), 3rd party supplements (Arduin Grimoire, Jan 1977), etc. You did what you could with content gaps and often-conflicting sources.