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Altair 8800 or 8080 (any versions) wanted

billdeg

billdeg

Technician
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
Messages
3,885
Location
Landenberg, PA USA
I have been trying to track down a working or fixable Altair MITS computer. I prefer an 8800 or 8080 (any versions). Please contact me if you would like to sell or trade. I am a hobbyist, I want to use and compare with others of the era using same chip, or competitor chips.
 
MITS made the 8800 line of Altair computers based on the Intel 8080 chipset. The 8800 was the first, the 8800a upgraded the power supply and the motherboard slightly and the 8800b upgraded the front panel, the motherboard and the power supply.

The MITS Altair 680 was another line based on the 6800 processor. There was a short-lived A version and a B version that is far more common.

IMSAI made an 8080 as a "clone" of the Altair. Dozens of other manufacturors did as well, in time, including Compupro, Cromemco, Polymorphic Systems, California Computer Systems and many others.

All of these machines work basically the same running either 8080 or Z80 chips, CP/M (or some other 8-bit OS) and 8" or 5.25" drives.

Altairs typically sell for well over $1,000 regardless of condition. Imsai systems are getting close to that. Other S-100 machines are far more reasonably priced.

Best of luck!

Erik
 
altair 8800 8080

altair 8800 8080

Yes. I am not as interested in the 680 line because most of the books I own are about the 8080 or 8000 processor and I wanted to focus on these chips because I have more to go on. I also have accumulated some s-100 bits and pieces already. I don't mind spending the extra money for an altair or imsai "core system", even if I use other brand s-100 cards and drives as I go to complete what I want to do (whatever that turns out to be). I have a source for generic s-100 cards locally. there is a certain artistic asthetic to the altair face plate. just a personal preference I guess

You might be interested to know that I have a cool homebrew based on the TI 9900 chip (tms 9900 printed on chip). I have never seen one like it, but probably that's because people collect the s-100 stuff more. regardless i have decided that my venture into this era of vintage / single board computers is not complete without at least one s-100 system to play with. I had ignored them I guess because other opportunities came my way easier. it's funny because working TMS 9900 microprocessor chip systems are probably rarer than a typical s-100 of the same time period and they are 16 bit. the 6502 stuff is "too easy" ...they just work, you follow the directions and go (in principle anyway) :). I have 2 AIM 65's, a Synertek VIM 1, and a KIM rev G that all work nicely.

anyway, thanks for the comment. I had been into vintage computers completely on my own for many years, did not realize that there are so many people also doing the same thing. I think that the history of computers is fascinating.
 
and then ebay responds with a small selection...

and then ebay responds with a small selection...

there are some altairs on ebay to choose from...hmmm...i hate ebay for vintage computers, but...?? the sellers never know what they have. "Powers up" what does that mean?
 
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