Altair 8800a on EBAY

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Wed Oct 3 16:20:29 2001

At 01:54 PM 10/3/01 -0600, you wrote:
>The Altair ad in Pop-Tronics or popular mechanics or whatever, came out in
'75,
>didn't it?


    I'm pretty certain that it was the cover article in the Jan 1976 issue
of Popular Electronics.

 Once the Altair was "out there" a number of computer makers came out
>with their own versions of S-100-based machine, e.g. th Alpha-Micro, which
was
>reputed to be every bit competitive with the '11's. I don't know how they
>compared in cost, however. The AM was "sort-of" S-100, in that it used S-100
>memory, but I can't say whether it worked with other devices.

    I used to have an AM-100. I don't know a lot about it but I do know
that it used the S-100 bus but it was a 16 bit system. It had to fetch two
8 bit words just like the original IBM PC.

>
>The Alpha Micro was pretty sought-after among the lip-service, but I never
saw
>one in someone's possession.

    I had one but finally sold it since I coulden't find any docs, manuals,
SW or anything else for. I couldn't even find the instruction set for the CPU!

     Joe
>
>Dick
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mike Ford" <mikeford_at_socal.rr.com>
>To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 12:16 PM
>Subject: Re: Altair 8800a on EBAY
>
>
>> >Richard Erlacher said:
>> >> The Altair was never a computer that one interested in computing
>> >> would have bought for what the kit cost....
>> >
>> >So what Was the serious computer to buy for that era?
>> >It would probably be impossibly expensive, leaving many,
>> >including the serious, without anything.
>> >
>> >John A.
>>
>> DEC something?
>> Tandy 10?
>> Basic4?
>>
>> Rotten core, I can't remember the one I really want to, Micron 100, maybe
>> something with an A or T at the start, but it was a whole chassis with
>> smoked glass doors etc., not some hobby machine.
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Received on Wed Oct 03 2001 - 16:20:29 BST