The MITS Altair 8800

This page features nice scans of the two issues of Popular Electronics that introduced the MITS Altair 8800. To follow are selections relevant to MITS Altair 8800. The PDF is in the CISC367 directory in the member's area. To follow are selections relevant to MITS Altair 8800.

January 1975 Popular Electronics
The issue that introduced the MITS Altair 8800. Volume includes ads for SWTPC CT-1024 terminal and MITScope.

February 1975 Popular Electronics
Includes part to of the January Altair article, the first advertisement and first actual pictures of the Altair.

Editorial

THE HOME COMPUTER IS HERE!

EXCLUSIVE! ALTAIR 8800 The most powerfuL Minicomputer project ever presented - can be built for under $400

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Past Issues:

A COMPUTER CONCEPT BECOMES AN EXCITING REALITY.

The February issue of Popular Electronics contained part two of the Altair introduction article.

Build the Altair 8800 Minicomputer Part II

On the Work Bench Fall 2009

Selected recent blog articles with extra content...See my Vintage Computer Blog to search for latest articles, or post your questions.

Teletype ASR 33 Woes

Oops! I knocked over my working teletype ASR 33 and I had to repair it. After locating all of the pieces, I carefully re-installed as much I could. At first I was only partially successful. I first determined that teletype was sending data correctly from the keyboard to the computer through the serial cable, and the computer was receiving the commands. Output from the computer to the teletype is received and the print head itself is printing the correct characters. The print head was not moving horizontally along the line, saying in place and printing each character one on top of the other. I was able to get it running again, and in the process learned a lot about how they work..
Restoration Notes

Burroughs L7000 Computer

I have been contacted by a jewelry store in Newark Delaware who has a Burroughs L7000 computer to donate. I have helped make arrangements to have this picked up and delivered to the MARCH museum in Wall New Jersey, part of the InfoAge complex at Camp Evans.

Go to thread

The COSMAC Microkit 1 (RCA)

I found the picture above in an article by Robert M. Grossman, Associate Editor of EDN Microprocessor Design Series Volume II. Robert's article was titled µC Systems Directory: where have all the µP's gone?. NOTE: µC = "microcomputer" and µP = "microprocessor".


MITS is listed as a manufacturer in the directly and so are a lot of very interesting other companies, some I never heard of, but I am missing the page that lists the models and prices of the other computers with microprocessors. We all know about the MITS Altair, but was the Allen-Bradley Co. of Highland Hts. Ohio making a computer in 1975?

The Process Computer Systems MicoPac 80

Intrigued to learn more about the lesser-known microcomputers from 1974-1975 I spent some time doing a little research. I was fortunate enough to have the chance to speak with the original lead engineer of the MicroPac 80 computer, Rick Barnich. The MicroPac was produced by Process Computer Systems which was later known as Xycom. Although little is commonly known about the MicroPac 80, it is a historical computer that should be recognized. This is the first commercial computer that used the Intel 8080 microprocessor as the CPU. According to Rick, the MicroPac was originally designed and built to be used as an interface with the HP 2000 series, DEC PDP, and Data General minicomputers using the minicomputer as the CPU. Rick and his team realized that their MicroPac could be used as a stand alone computer if they had an appropriate microprocessor, and Process Computer made arrangements with Intel to get one of the new prototype S910 chips to experiment with. The plan was to use the S910 in the MicroPac as the CPU, and then they would also design I/O and RAM boards so that their system could run as a stand-alone microcomputer. By December of 1973 Rick and his team finished their new MicroPac 80, and in January 1974 the S910 arrived. After minor adjustments to compensate for voltage differences, Rick and his team finished the MicroPac 80. The system was fully functional, had a front panel, and used a teletype for I/O and storage. What's significant here is that the MicroPac 80 was launched with a prototype chip at least 3 months before Intel announced their new microprocessor, by then called the 8080, in April/May of 1974. Rick still has the original prototype 8080 CPU.

The Computer History Museum has an oral history about the 8080 which is in line with Rick Barnich's story.

UPDATE: Check out these PCS Product Brochures. Rich sent me a CD with a lot of PCS brochures, and I have also obtained a number of other printed brochures. This was a serious company in the industrial microcomputer market!

CompuPro S-100 Computer

I finished up on a CompuPro (formerly Godbout) S-100 8086/8085 256K RAM system with dual Qume 842 disk drives and a Qume terminal. Pretty beefy. The CompuPro's dual enclosure comes with Qume QumeTrak 842's. As received the left/boot drive was not operating correctly (seek errors). To get started I swapped the drives and reversed the D0/D1 jumpers so I could boot the system. I later traded a Tandon 848 for a Shugart 850 (because it fits in the chassis), adjusted the jumpers and installed as the new data drive. Aside from the noisy drive enclosure fan, this computer and drives are now running quite well.

The CompuPro boots to CP/M 86 and has a nice version of MBASIC. This is only one of many operating systems that the CompuPro can handle.
Blog Thread and Pictures

MITS Altair 8800a

Here are some pictures of my MITS Altair 8800a model. This unit has been on loan to Dan Roganti who has restored power to the unit by replacing some caps (I believe). More to come in early 2010.
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Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0

Pictures from the Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0 held September 12 and 13th at the Info Age Science Center in Wall, NJ USA
Exhibit Pictures

Televideo PM/286

This model has a high resolution color CGA card, a Novell controller and a 8-port user controller.
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Televideo TS-816

I took this system out for a spin, it had been 4 or 5 years. Still works great. Here are some new pictures.

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MITS 1440 Calculator

The MITS Model 1440 was a electronic calculator kit first produced in 1972 before the Altair 8800. This calculator was capable of performing square, square root, and memory storage. It had 15 digit LED readout.
There were 6 integrated circuits ("ROMS") but Bob replaced the one marked FDY 360B-7006 with a modern equivalent he made himself(!). He also replaced at least one zener diode. He sent me a complete write up of the repairs and notes.
Additional pictures and documents related to the 1440 | Read more

Qume QVT-108

A few more pictures | read more