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The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer designed in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and based on the Intel 8080 CPU. [2] It was the first commercially successful personal computer. [ 3 ]
The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE 696-1983 (inactive-withdrawn), is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The S-100 bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. S-100 computers, consisting of processor and peripheral cards, were produced by a number of manufacturers.
The 8080 was used in many early microcomputers, such as the MITS Altair 8800 Computer, Processor Technology SOL-20 Terminal Computer and IMSAI 8080 Microcomputer, forming the basis for machines running the CP/M operating system (the later, almost fully compatible and more able, Zilog Z80 processor would capitalize on this, with Z80 and CP/M ...
The January 1975 cover of Popular Electronics featured Roberts' Altair 8800 computer. [30] Roberts asked Mims to write the Altair 8800 user’s manual in return for an assembled Altair, which Mims donated to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History together with many original MITS documents and his high school ...
Intel had announced the 8080 chip, and compared to the 4004 to which IMS Associates had been first introduced, it looked like a "real computer". Full-scale development of the IMSAI 8080 was put into action using the existing Altair 8800's S-100 bus, and by October 1975 an ad was placed in Popular Electronics, receiving positive reactions. [5]
The technical manuals for the Altair 8800 provided electrical schematics of the 100 pin computer bus allowing others to design compatible boards. There was not a proper technical standard at the time and some "compatible" boards did not work with other "compatible" boards. Later, the industry developed the S-100 bus standard. [58]
They were unsuccessful at that venture but later created the Altair 8800 computer kit that sparked the home computer revolution. The construction projects in Electronics Illustrated were assembled and checked by the editors. The articles had numerous photos and always included a wiring diagram in addition to the schematic.
The Altair 8800 (the first home computer) was also sold as a kit, as were the MK14, Sinclair ZX80, Sinclair ZX81 and Acorn Atom computers. Many S-100 bus system cards were sold only as kits. Building a Robot kit, most often with a micro controller inside, is now in fashion.