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eBay: Original Unassembled Altair 8800 Computer Kit

I expect the buyer of the pdp8 will have more fun with his purchase. But let's not assume the Altair 8800 winner will never build the kit. Maybe it will be used as a template for a reproduction or something. I can see both sides of the argument whether to build or not. If I was given such a rare thing, I would probably leave unbuilt because I already have an Altair 8800.
 
Well yah..the fact this has already been done is not new, but maybe there are differences between Grant's base model and this one. We can hope. I was just trying to be nice and not assume that the buyer would not just stick this kit into a safe like a Rare baseball card and never do anything with it. But that's probably exactly what will be done with it.
 
Can Grant's kit still be bought?, if not then there is an opportunity to create another kit.
I could not understand why Grant made an exact replica, It would be better to offer an enhanced kit using gold plated contacts on the edge of the card for a start, then use higher capacity ram chips, not only would this produce a more useful machine, but also prevent someone selling it as an original machine.
 
Grant's kits I believe can still be purchased if available, he's been active on his own forums although last I checked they were riddled with spam and hard to sift through the grit. The problem Grant ran into (speaking unofficially from what I read) was the price of the reproductions was quite high. It costs a lot to buy the parts up front and the case was actually one of the more expensive items as well. He traced the boards from the original and probably did make some improvements but the point with his kits are they are functionally compatible with the originals. He marked most of the stuff a little so you can tell it's his not an original but I don't remember all the details. Could just be the website or something on the boards.
 
I was frustrated by how expensive the Altairs were on eBay. I looked into getting one of Grant's machines, but wasn't able to reach him. Sounds like his kits were up near $2,000 -- so still pretty expensive. Here's my twist on Altair: http://altairclone.com/

Finishing up manuals, website updates, then ready to roll!
 
Nice project--my old one could use a facelift, so you might want to make an excess run of front panel plates and nameplates. The first because the crappy legends could wear off easily and the second because the adhesive dried out pretty quickly.
 
I've got nameplates if you need one. The MITS logo and swoosh are not raised, but the strip still looks very nice. Unfortunately, no other case parts are interchangeable despite their visual similarities!
 
Any idea on the price of these new kits. Ballpark amount would be ok too. Need to know how much I have save up. These kits look great.

Robert
 
Is the case the same size as the original?
If the case is large enough and available separately, I would like to fit an S100 system inside.
 
The case size is very close to duplicating the original 8800's dimensions. However, the clone case does not have the internal chassis like the original case. Not sure it would work too well for housing an S-100 system, especially if a heavy linear power supply was used.
 
deramp5113 said:
I was frustrated by how expensive the Altairs were on eBay. I looked into getting one of Grant's machines, but wasn't able to reach him. Sounds like his kits were up near $2,000 -- so still pretty expensive. Here's my twist on Altair: http://altairclone.com/

Finishing up manuals, website updates, then ready to roll!
Click to expand...

I am extremely interested in purchasing one of these. Please make sure you announce availability loudly!

smp
 
deramp5113 said:
I was frustrated by how expensive the Altairs were on eBay. I looked into getting one of Grant's machines, but wasn't able to reach him. Sounds like his kits were up near $2,000 -- so still pretty expensive. Here's my twist on Altair: http://altairclone.com/

Finishing up manuals, website updates, then ready to roll!
Click to expand...

Looks great. A great idea to allow the use of all that free space to be used for a modern pc motherboard and extras. You could then easily hook the Altair clone to the pc as well.
 
It's similar to the newer IMSAI machines but yes certainly cool that you have a working front panel. Ok I'm gonna geek out for a sec.. what about a front panel only hanging Altair with your gear? It could still be a fully functional emulated Altair but by default have it loaded with a clock program :) I can see those hanging on walls everywhere.
 
kingchops said:
Looks great. A great idea to allow the use of all that free space to be used for a modern pc motherboard and extras. You could then easily hook the Altair clone to the pc as well.
Click to expand...

Or use the empty space as "display case" for your spare S-100 boards. Then it looks like a real Altair even on the inside!
 
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