Developer | MITS |
---|---|
Manufacturer | MITS |
Release date | January 1975 |
Introductory price | Kit: US $439 ($2500 in 2023) Assembled: US $621 ($3500 in 2023) |
Units sold | 25,000[1] |
CPU | Intel 8080 @ 2 MHz |
The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer designed in 1974 by MITS and based on the Intel 8080 CPU.[2] Interest grew quickly after it was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics[3] and was sold by mail order through advertisements there, in Radio-Electronics, and in other hobbyist magazines.[4][5] According to Harry Garland, the Altair 8800 was the product that catalyzed the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s.[6] It was the first commercially successful personal computer.[7] The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.[8][9]
The Altair 8800 had no built-in screen or video output, so it would have to be connected to a serial terminal (such as a VT100-compatible terminal) to have any output. To connect it to a terminal a serial interface card had to be installed. Alternatively to using a terminal Altair could be programmed using its front-panel switches.
There is little question that the current enthusiasm in personal computing was catalyzed by the introduction of the MITS Altair computer kit in January 1975.
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