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Working stock REV 0 Altair 8800 spotted on ebay

Actually, we don't know how "working" it is... especially for a single motherboard system with no IO. Trust me, it can look like it runs, but until you can load Microsoft basic over a serial port it ain't working. Now this one on eBay is in great condition cosmetically I think because it's only a 256 byte system, so you can't do much with it so I'm sure after the novelty of getting it running it was never used or it never worked right. Tends to be the case with non-restored machines, they are cosmetically perfect because they never ran.

As for price, this is actually low, not insane. Breker sold one similar over a year ago for 15k. We haven't seen a complete verified working early Altair in good condition setup with original motherboard(s) that can run basic sell publicly for years. The ones I have seen are either "A" or "B" models or have had the motherboards upgraded to single piece or something like that. The MARCH unit that we use to demo basic at the shows is like that. It's a very very early Rev-0 Altair, but the motherboard has been upgraded to a single piece PT board and the power supply has been upgraded. Very common at the time, which is why original is so rare.

So the winner of the auction got a great deal, but may have to do some work to get it functional. I'd pull, but keep the 256 byte card, find two early 4k MITS Ram cards and a SIO serial card, hook it up to an ASR-33 and load basic to prove it works completely. If not I'd get it to work. Then you can prove it really works and not just lights up blink lights. You can deposit memory and read it on a partially working system, so I never use that as a gauge that it works.

Original motherboard setups are rare and fragile.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Actually, we don't know how "working" it is... especially for a single motherboard system with no IO. Trust me, it can look like it runs, but until you can load Microsoft basic over a serial port it ain't working. Now this one on eBay is in great condition cosmetically I think because it's only a 256 byte system, so you can't do much with it so I'm sure after the novelty of getting it running it was never used or it never worked right. Tends to be the case with non-restored machines, they are cosmetically perfect because they never ran.

As for price, this is actually low, not insane. Breker sold one similar over a year ago for 15k. We haven't seen a complete verified working early Altair in good condition setup with original motherboard(s) that can run basic sell publicly for years. The ones I have seen are either "A" or "B" models or have had the motherboards upgraded to single piece or something like that. The MARCH unit that we use to demo basic at the shows is like that. It's a very very early Rev-0 Altair, but the motherboard has been upgraded to a single piece PT board and the power supply has been upgraded. Very common at the time, which is why original is so rare.

So the winner of the auction got a great deal, but may have to do some work to get it functional. I'd pull, but keep the 256 byte card, find two early 4k MITS Ram cards and a SIO serial card, hook it up to an ASR-33 and load basic to prove it works completely. If not I'd get it to work. Then you can prove it really works and not just lights up blink lights. You can deposit memory and read it on a partially working system, so I never use that as a gauge that it works.

Original motherboard setups are rare and fragile.

Cheers,
Corey


Thanks for explanations.

But I really doubt this machine can run a lot of board with stock C8080 without "A", but it is no matter for a Vintage computer, it just rectify the computer was in early stage.
 
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Well, I don't know how others reason, but a replica from Grant Stockly would be of vastly more value to me. Same system, but improved where it matters. I would chose one of those over an "original" every time, unless the latter was very cheap. Unfortunately I couldn't afford to buy a kit the last time I had the chance, the dollar exchange rate took a large jump in the wrong direction at the same time, (as is happening now), so I'm without. Won't buy one of the "originals" in any case. Or I'll just stick to the altairclone, although it doesn't have the 'real' bus.
 
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Hi All;
I would disagree with Cory, Now Maybe the price has changed significantly since I got mine.. I don't Remember what I paid for mine, But I would say it was about half to two-thirds of this price..
Now my Altair had Memory, I forgot how much and Serial I/O and the Disk Controller Cards, as well as two 8" Altair Hard Sector Diskette Drives..
And Tor, Yes, If You can find One, The Grant reproductions are Great Machines, I have had two of them, I had to sell them and my other Altair a few Years ago..
I have put the Type of switching Power supplies that Grant used in my Altair, so I can keep Running it, and Not burn something up.. Of Course, I have kept the Origional Altair Power Supply in it, it's just not connected to power..
And I had to sell its origional Processor Board when I sold my other Altair, So now I have Grant's origional Processor Board, Before He did the Silk screen on His Official release boards.. And so it looks like an origional Altair processor Board..

005.jpg

THANK YOU Marty
 
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Marty,

Yes they have increased incredibly in value of the past few years. Everything from the 70's and early 80's in the hobby has, especially Altair, Sol-20, Apple and stuff like that. How long ago did you get your Altairs? Three years ago I could have bough an Apple II plus with just about every needed accessory for $50. Now I'll pay 200-300 or more for the same thing. There are a lot of new people into the hobby and many are coming with larger wallets and they want original manufacturer stuff. So frankenmachines aren't worth much but working original stuff is taking off at an incredible pace.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Hi All;
Corey, OK, Thank You..
"" So frankenmachines aren't worth much but working original stuff is taking off at an incredible pace. ""
I guess, I shouldn't be suprised..

THANK YOU Marty
 
Well that didn't turn out like I thought it would. $10,000? Wow. If you look at the bid history, it looks like the winner was going to take it home no matter what the price.
 
Well that didn't turn out like I thought it would. $10,000? Wow. If you look at the bid history, it looks like the winner was going to take it home no matter what the price.

I finally put the price to 10000, but I'm not win this bid, what a pity!

The winner just input the 10000 tag before me, so he wins the bid.

10000 USD is the maximum price I will accept for the factory assembled Altair 8800.

This Altair 8800 is exceed the price of Intel Intellec 4 with gray traced 4004 last year (8,000 USD ebay).
 
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BTW, I just realized you meant 8080 vs 8080a. No functional difference between those chips. The 8080a could just drive a full TTL load not just low power devices.

I was referring to most Altair we see are Model "A" or "B" not the early Rev 0 one like this one that just sold. The A and B fix most of the weak points in the Altair but aren't as collectable.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Thanks for clarify the difference between 8080 & 8080A.

If there have a factory assembled rev 0 Altair 8800 in future I will buy one for sure.

Although I have a rev 0 Altair 8800 "K" already.
 
Not much difference between an A or a K if your kit was assembled by someone with a clue. The lack of solder mask meant these systems were hand soldered anyway and who knows if the skill of someone at MITS was better than someone in the field. As for collectibility, it's nice to have one of each, but I wouldn't go out of my way to choose one over the other. My rev-0 Altair was originally built by someone with a clue, all the wirelooms were laced using real wide waxed lacing, when I rewired it with NOS wire (the original wires were brittle) I made sure to reproduce his work. I have seen some home assembly ones though that are pretty basketcase using ribbon wires and soldered on IC sockets to the CPU card connector. Pretty ugly and not great soldering jobs also.

So you never know.

image.jpg

Just a side note. Yes my fan is a quiet fan, I have the stock jet engine sounding one, but that's the only non MITS stock change on mine after the restoration. If you haven't done that change I highly suggest it. Night and day.


Cheers,
Corey
 
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Hi All;
Corey, I would Suggest that You get a Pair of Switcher Power Supplies, and put them in the Back (side) of Your machine, where You do not have any BackPlanes, to save Your Boards and a smoother Running Voltages.. Your Boards will run cooler and with a lot less ripple.. For show You could then just hook up the Origional Power supplies, but for Home the Switchers would be better..

THANK YOU Marty
 
I've thought about having switchers as a supply and just swapping them if needed. The problem is I use a clear plexiglass cover on my Altair so you can see in. If I ever put my metal cover back on I might.

I have recapped my supply with matching caps so don't really have any ripple. My original caps were bulged. When I did a restoration on mine it was a ground up restoration electronically including a complete rewire with NOS wire.

Luckily my system was just like the one that just sold. It had only two s100 connectors for a single memory board and cpu and so was cosmetically good because it was never really used. I got correct MITS s100 connectors with the correct date and another motherboard which I wired up. It's like brand new but it's real and not a Grant Stocky replica. It has been rock solid reliable.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Did you see? $10,000, SOLD!

I have felt that the real value of the orig 8800 is maybe $1750-3000 depending on the cond. / what it comes with. Was there something about this one that is so wonderful to justify this price? I could believe maybe $2700, but that he got is not believable. Something is not right here.

6 different people bid over $2500. This is well above average...but this is going to shake a few more free from collectors who want to cash in. Watch ebay for a few more people to try to get these kinds of prices. If *those* also sell for more than $5000, then we have a true price increase and not just a fluke.



b
 
Did you see? $10,000, SOLD!

I have felt that the real value of the orig 8800 is maybe $1750-3000 depending on the cond. / what it comes with. Was there something about this one that is so wonderful to justify this price? I could believe maybe $2700, but that he got is not believable. Something is not right here.

6 different people bid over $2500. This is well above average...but this is going to shake a few more free from collectors who want to cash in. Watch ebay for a few more people to try to get these kinds of prices. If *those* also sell for more than $5000, then we have a true price increase and not just a fluke.



b

I'd suspect that it's becuase this unit appears to be completely stock, still, I'm suprised it went over 5K.

Also, when was the last time was was sold as working? The best I've ever seen are ones claimed to "light up", with worn front panels and aftermarket cards.
 
"Stock" but stripped.... Not a loaded system. But in great shape. Not many early Altair still have the original motherboard (s) and a non-upgraded supply. Most have dings, scratched paint and worn front panels. There is a big difference between a condition ranking of 5 and a 9 out of 10 in collectibles. This one looked really good. Don't know when we will see another one like that come up for auction, though your right I'd like to see what happens if a few people try to cash in. Though I can tell you it's not the highest I have seen a good condition Rev 0 go for at Auction. This is just the highest I think on eBay.
 
I've thought in recent years that an original rev.0 Altair, that was set up to run Basic, with original MITS boards was worth between $7-$10k. I think this one while ticking most of those boxes, cannot run Basic. A big drawback on price I would have thought. Still, the seller did well.
 
Hi All;
Corey, How much Memory do You have ??
I see four Boards that I think are 1K's, but the one with Big Yellow Caps across the Top I can't tell what it is..
And I see one of each style of the Serial I/O Boards..
"" The problem is I use a clear plexiglass cover on my Altair so you can see in. If I ever put my metal cover back on I might. "" If you do Just make it look nice, then having a Clear cover won't matter..

THANK YOU Marty
 
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