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Altair 8800

C

Computer Collector

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
283
I might get flamed for asking such an ignorant question, but here it goes:

Whats the point of the MITs Altair 8800 when you cant even type on it?
 
what's the point?

what's the point?

Not to be a wise guy but that's like asking what's point of an Apple ][ because you can't play Doom 3 on it.
 
Re: Altair 8800

Computer Collector said:
I might get flamed for asking such an ignorant question, but here it goes:

Whats the point of the MITs Altair 8800 when you cant even type on it?
Click to expand...

No flames, but you can type on it. You just need to learn octal first. . . :D

Erik
 
I can't "type" on my digital alarm clock either, but it serves a very useful function.
I don't think you're asking the right question. What you should be asking is "What applications can be run on an Altair 8800?"
 
Re: Altair 8800

You can "type" with the front panel switches. Or hook up a Teletype or other terminal, just like any other computer. Remember that it was state-of-the-art 30 years ago, and the only PC to be had.

I suppose the real reason people want an Altair is because it was a pioneer. The first of anything is usually collectable.

Plus, as Terry said, there's those blinkenlights.

Alltare
==================================

Computer Collector said:
I might get flamed for asking such an ignorant question, but here it goes:

Whats the point of the MITs Altair 8800 when you cant even type on it?
Click to expand...
 
I think it's the kind of question that, if you have to ask, you'll never understand the answer. Either you get it or you don't. Other such questions I sometimes get are "Why do you call your dogs "FatMan" & "LittleBoy"?" or "Why do you use an apparently anti-computer quote in your sig?" Well, the quote dates back to the early 70s, to a time when "The Computer" was sort of a metaphor for intrusive government ammassing vast stores of data about it's people. The current generation tends to take giant government databanks for granted, having grown up with them ever-present, but to us, back then, it was perceived as a very real and imminent threat to our personal liberty and the American way of life. (Remember, this was before FEMA & DHS, before FISA & the USA PATRIOT Act...back when the term "right to privacy" actually meant something). (Oh, am I rambling? Sorry). Anyways, my dog-naming scheme is just my brand of "gallows humor", and not intended as a reflection of the puppies' destructive abilities.

--T
 
What you should be asking is "What applications can be run on an Altair 8800?"
Click to expand...

Yes, perhaps this would be the better question, thank you.

So, can you type a report and print it out?
Does it have a monitor?

(Im a newbie when it comes to this model, as you can see)

Ill keep a lookout for one in the thrift shops!
 
another answer

another answer

Sorry, I meant to leave a more useful answer as well ;)

If you want to do something "usefull" with it?
Um, well, not much chance.

As others have said, something like an Altair is important because of it's place in the evolution of home computing not because of what you can do with it now.

If you happened to stuble across one, you could swap it for numerous examples of something a little more useable (Apple ][, Commodore 64, etc) plus a whole lot of cash ;)

-mikol
 
Still, I think the short answer is possibly the best. Those blinkenlights are a end in and of themselves. I don't have an Altair or Imsai, but if I did, I would infect it with the GoodTimes email virus hoax to put it into the legendary Nth-complexity infinite binary loop, and then I could stare hypnotically at the front panel until I lapsed into a grand mal seizure.

--T
 
Are you serious? Your nickname, "Computer Collector" implies that you should already know better than to ask that question.

"What does the thing do?". It computes, just like any other computer. You might as well ask what a Mac or an IBMPC does. They're computers! What do you want them to do?

There are lots of web sites where you can learn about Altairs. Perhaps you should visit a few. This very site (Vintage Computer) has an S-100 Forum ("S-100" is the IEEE name for the Altair buss) you could visit. I'm sure many readers can give you a list as long as your arm of sites to look at.

Alltare

Computer Collector said:
So, what does the thing do?
Click to expand...
 
I suppose I havent reached the same level of intelligence as you yet. Perhaps I should look for a new name. Im not qualified to call myself a computer collector yet.
 
Sorry, CC. I guess I was too harsh.

The Altair really is just another computer. It supports terminals, printers, modems, disks, tapes, and many other devices. You could easily access all 256 I/O ports, not just the handfull that today's PCs allow. It can be programmed to do anything you want it to do (within the constraints of installed memory, peripherals, etc.). So to ask what it can do is a question that you really could ask of any other computer too. The answer, again, is "What do you want it to do?"

alltare

Computer Collector said:
I suppose I havent reached the same level of intelligence as you yet. Perhaps I should look for a new name. Im not qualified to call myself a computer collector yet.
Click to expand...
 
Computer Collector said:
I suppose I havent reached the same level of intelligence as you yet. Perhaps I should look for a new name. Im not qualified to call myself a computer collector yet.
Click to expand...

Do you own more than one computer? Do you hope to own even more computers in the future? Then you're prob'ly qualified to call yourself a collector...

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Do you own more than one computer? Do you hope to own even more computers in the future? Then you're prob'ly qualified to call yourself a collector...
Click to expand...
In that case, even my 68 year old dad is almost a collector, since he technically co-owns three low end PCs and under my guidance put a bid (but didn't get) a fourth, possibly better PC to replace one of the two in use.
 
Actually I would call him more of an accordion collector than a computer collector. Or maybe advertisement poster and catalog collector, at least a couple of years ago.
 
ive been doing a little more research, and Ive come to a new conclusion. Correct me if Im wrong. But a keyboard and monitor combo called the
Lear-Siegler ADM-3A terminal connects to the Altair, and then you have the complete set-up. Is that how it goes?

This Lear-Siegler ADM-3A terminal looks very familiar. Unless there is another computer that looks almost identical, Im sure that I used to have to type on one of these in typing class when I was a kid. For some reason the teacher called them Commodores, though. But what we had in that class looked exactly like a Lear-Siegler ADM-3A terminal to me. Perhaps they were hooked up to some kind of Commodore under the table.

I ought to go back and ask if them still have them in some closet, and if I could buy them. However, even if they id still have them, (now 17 years later), I doubt they would want to sell them to me. You know how it is; people never want to give up their old computer stuff when they know you want it.
 
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