Microcomputer designed in 1974
MITS Altair 8800 Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch floppy disk system
Developer MITS Manufacturer MITS Release date January 1975; 49 years ago (1975-01 ) 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, the Altair could be programmed using its front-panel switches.
^ Reimer, Jeremy (2005-12-15). "Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures" . Ars Technica . Archived from the original on 2012-06-07. Retrieved 2021-11-27 .
^ Rojas, Raúl (2001). Encyclopedia of computers and computer history . Chicago [u.a.]: Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-235-4 .
^ Copyright catalogs at the Library of Congress. January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics was published on November 29, 1974. File:Copyright_Popular_Electronics_1975.jpg
^ Newscientist Sept 21 gallery: March of the outdated machines
^ Young, Jeffrey S. (1998). "Chapter 6: 'Mechanics: Kits & Microcomputers' ". Forbes Greatest Technology Stories: Inspiring Tales of the Entrepreneurs . New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-24374-4 .
^ Garland, Harry (March 1977). "Design Innovations in Personal Computers" . Computer . 10 (3). IEEE Computer Society: 24. doi :10.1109/c-m.1977.217669 . S2CID 32243439 . 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.
^ Dorf, Richard C., ed. The engineering handbook. CRC Press, 2004.
^ Ceruzzi, Paul E. (2003). A History of Modern Computing . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. p. 226 . ISBN 0-262-53203-4 . "This announcement [Altair 8800] ranks with IBM's announcement of the System/360 a decade earlier as one of the most significant in the history of computing."
^ Freiberger, Paul ; Swaine, Michael (2000). Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer . New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-135892-7 .