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Expected cost of an s-100 system

H

hitachi

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Apr 16, 2012
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Bellevue, NE
I've been looking to get an s-100 system, preferably the type like the IMSAI 8080, with switches on the front panel.
what should I expect to pay for a base system? I know there are other types of machines, like the byt-8 mentioned in another thread that don't have this type of interface, but I would prefer one that does. Can someone offer some insight?



Thank you for your time, and check out my thread in the for sale/trade section if you're looking to off load a computer.
 
They seem to be going for $1500 - $2000 for the IMSAI with the switches. I have been looking for one as well, having certain cards and manuals drives the prices higher. You could build your own, I have several systems that I have built with the help of N8VEM S100 boards. I also have a Briel Altair clone, these don't have an S100 bus, but do have a similar front panel. The panel is reduced in size, but the computer runs CP/M and accesses programs via a SDCARD. If your looking for something to play with, these can be had for <$400 for the whole machine.

Kipp
 
Shipping's often a dealbreaker on the cheaper ones because of the heavy power supplies in most of them; I've scrapped a few because for some reason folks don't want to pay twice as much for shipping as for the system.
 
There are S100 systems and then there are S100 systems. While an Altair 8800 or IMSAI 8080 are historically significant, you might want to look around for one of the CompuPro systems--better-engineered with a more up-to-date bus. No front panels to speak of, but industrial-grade construction. I ditched my Altair (still have it) for regular work because of the weak power supply and too-early bus. I went to an Integrand box that has a power supply that you could arc-weld with and is made of heavy-gauge aluminum. Only a reset button on the front panel.

Because the CompuPros (and Cromemcos, etc.) are less historically interesting, your best deals are with them.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Because the CompuPros (and Cromemcos, etc.) are less historically interesting, your best deals are with them.
Click to expand...
Unless it's a Cromemco Z-1 of course:

Cromemco_Z1_1.jpg
 
Hi
Another non-front panel one was the Poly88. It had a nice
monitor that made up for the lack of front panel switches.
I've not seen one of those on ebay for some time either.
( there is a Polymorphic System 88 on ebay for a silly
price but that has been there for more than a year ).
Dwight
 
Hi
In terms of new S-100 production there really is not a lot of options. There used to be an Altair replica http://www.altairkit.com/ but I don't think Grant is active anymore. The IMSAI II project crushed rather spectacularly about 5 years ago so that's not an option either. You could build your own using the N8VEM S-100 boards however that will take some time as the boards are released one board at a time. It will take months to get through the whole cycle.

Probably your best bet is to get an older S-100 system off eBay and restore it. That's what I did. Either repair it or add N8VEM boards to repair/supplement what is there already.

The cost estimate is hard to say. It could range from almost free to several thousand dollars. It will be quite an investment in time as well.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
marcoguy said:
You could go with the Altair 8800 Micro.
Click to expand...

But that's not an S-100 machine is it? You might as well run an emulator on your PeeCee.

Getting started with S100 can be a piecemeal affair. You get a backplane with a few connectors, a CPU card, a memory card, a disk controller of some sort and an I/O card to hook to a terminal. Add a power supply and you're in business. Fancy things such as a case can come later.

When the 8080 was young, Intel would sell their very basic systems as nothing more than a card cage and some Multibus cards. The rest was up to the customer. I used a MDS-workalike built-up like that, housed in a wooden box for some program development.
 
Last edited:
marcoguy said:
Well, no. It is Altair compatible, though.
Click to expand...

Other than it executes 8080 instructions, what does that mean? None of the peripheral options that Vince gives were available on the original 8800--and many people (myself included) used third-party cards (e.g. Don Tarbell's floppy controller). And-to the best of my knowledge, MITS never offered an 8MHz CPU.
 
Hi
I just saw Vince's box at the Maker Faire.
It is still really fun looking. Small enough to carry
in a trench coat or put a handle on.
It is not a S100, at least not without some
modifications.
Dwight
 
hitachi said:
I've been looking to get an s-100 system, preferably the type like the IMSAI 8080, with switches on the front panel.
what should I expect to pay for a base system? I know there are other types of machines, like the byt-8 mentioned in another thread that don't have this type of interface, but I would prefer one that does. Can someone offer some insight?
Click to expand...
Depends on whether you want to use it or look at it. You should be able to pick up a working S100 system for less than $500, but the lights and switches on something like an IMSAI will probably cost you at least an extra $1000 since out of many hundreds of systems only about a half dozen or so early ones had 'em. They're fun to look at and play with but not really very useful once you could connect a terminal and tape or disk drives.
 
MikeS said:
Depends on whether you want to use it or look at it. You should be able to pick up a working S100 system for less than $500, but the lights and switches on something like an IMSAI will probably cost you at least an extra $1000 since out of many hundreds of systems only about a half dozen or so early ones had 'em. They're fun to look at and play with but not really very useful once you could connect a terminal and tape or disk drives.
Click to expand...

Well, that's where I was stuck. I really want one that looks fancy with the switches and whatnot, but if it'd cost an extra grand, I might just get a system with a nifty terminal to use with it...
 
While the switches and LEDs look interesting, it should be noted that originally there was a reason for this. PROMs were initially expensive and programmers expensive to come by. It was a wash to put on a front panel instead--and you could sell a working system without a terminal (which usually cost more than the system itself). I remember keying in my bootstrap laboriously every time I powered the machine on or reset it. Not fun.

Once inexpensive PROMs and terminals were available, the need for a front panel diminished considerably.

Even in big iron, the blinkenlights front panel was going out of style, with IBM being one of the last holdouts. On the 1964 CDC large machines, there was no front panel--just a bootstrap panel made up of toggle switches. If you couldn't get a console driver loaded, it was time to call in the customer engineer with his 'scope.
 
Hi
Well, I think your options are to buy working/non-working S-100 boards on eBay, get the N8VEM S-100 PCBs and build your own, or design your own from scratch. There are not many new S-100 board vendors.

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch
 
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