Talk:Altair 8800

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Contents 1 Weasel Words? 2 Altair 8800 3 Toy or machine? 4 Altair basic 5 Price? 6 Solomon 7 Spoiler 8 Sources 9 Memory size?

[edit] Weasel Words?

I've spotted some phrases such as "Programming the Altair was an extremely tedious process" and "No particular level of thought (or rushed design) went into the design", which appear to be weasel words. Any confirmation on this? 220.236.18.233 08:02, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Pretty much the whole article is in the wrong tone. :-( As the tag says, it's more like reading a mag than an encyclopedia. The weasel words is just part of it. — Northgrove 08:17, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Altair 8800

--141.149.132.54 14:36, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)I am doing a project on the Altair 8800. I wondered if this was the FIRST Altair design. If you know, post it on this page!

[edit] Toy or machine?

Right now the article just describes 8800's history. It doesn't say anything about the function. Right now, I don't see any useful aspects in this machine. It can only make LEDs blink. May it be used for something more useful? --134.91.77.152 11:51, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

I don't think the LEDs were just used for blinkenlights; they were actually used for data output. Personal computers haven't always had monitors. That said, I think there were add-on cards for Altairs which allowed them to be hooked up to CRT terminals.

Whoops, when I removed the signature from the post above I forgot to add in the edit summary that it was in preparation to vanish. Consider this one the same.

Yeah I've been scratching my head over this for a long time. I know that the lights must have meant something, binary values of each decimal number or something? What could the machine do, what was it's killer application besides BASIC. 86.143.234.154 07:44, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

In the January 1975 Popular Elecronics article, a sidebar is dedicated to listing possible applications. (visible at http://www.computermuseum.20m.com/images/popelec/Page%2038.jpg) JimH443 23:12, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Altair basic

The Altair basic section is kind of confusing.--Gbleem 20:24, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Price?

I don't see the machine's price mentioned anywhere here... --Golbez 16:02, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

According to http://www.computermuseum.20m.com/popelectronics.htm, "... can be built for under $400" (this page links to an image of the article taken directly from the magazine) JimH443 23:06, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Here is a link to the March 1975 price list.[1] The Altair 8800 kit version is $439, the assembled version is $621. A working system would cost around $2000 -- SWTPC6800 23:20, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Solomon

Who is Solomon? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.25.255.246 (talk) 16:34, 12 December 2006 (UTC).

Solomon

It seems that Solomon is the young daughter of the 'Popular Electronics' magazine editor as mentioned in the Old-Computer site at http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=62. --Jtravis06 07:18, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

First World Altair Computer Converence held in Albuqerque New Mexico on March 26-28 1976.

Report on a seminar held on Saturday evening.

MITS Computer Notes, April 1976, Page 7

Computer Power of the Future

Annette Milford

Les Solomon, editor of Popular Electronics, told the Saturday night crowd of 700 that five years ago he and Ed Roberts, MITS' president, were speculating about whether it might be possible to sell 200 Altairs and break even.

Les Solomon entertained a curious audience with anecdotes about how it all began for MITS. The name for MITS' computer, for example, was inspired by his 12-year-old daughter. "She said why don't you call it Altair--that's where the Enterprise is going tonight."

SWTPC6800 02:41, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spoiler

The spoiler template appears to be of little use: the warning is placed before it is clear which movie is spoiled. But then again, maybe the fact that the Altair 8800 appears in Malcolm in the middle is the whole spoiler? ElMorador 11:30, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

I don't see any. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.81.227.133 (talk) 21:22, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Memory size?

How much memory was there in that thing? The article doesn't say. --207.176.159.90 (talk) 03:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The original Altair 8800 came with 256 bytes of RAM. To get a useful system you would need to purchase additional memory boards. The early boards would hold 4K bytes and soon there were 8K and 16K boards. The Intel 8080 CPU would address 64 K bytes. A system that used audio cassettes for data storage was usable with 8K of memory. A floppy disk system would need a least 12K or 16K. In December 1976 a 4K RAM board cost around $160. -- SWTPC6800 (talk) 05:21, 19 December 2007 (UTC)