Daves Old Computers - ALTAIR 8800 - Complete System

Click any photo to view a large high-resolution image.

Here is a view of the complete system, with the Adm-3A "toilet bowl" terminal.

A closeup view of the front panel

Here we see it with the cover off.
Installed cards are (from right to left):

• Altair 8800 CPU card
• Compu/Time real time clock
• Central Data Corp. 64k dynamic RAM
• S-100 bus extender
• D.C. Hayes 88-103A 300 bps modem
• Mits 88-SIO serial board
• Homebuild serial board
• NorthStar MDS-A2 floppy disk controller

A view from the back.

This is the oldest picture I have been able to find of it - Taken in 1980 or 81. Note that it still has the original NorthStar diskette drive enclosures (and also note the fan to keep them cool).

This is later photo showing the HeathKit printer and Pertec 9-track tape drive. Note the documentation binders on the right. The large grey box on the floor under the printer is a 300 bps modem!

Here is another view of the Altair in a tall rack with the 9-track drive. On the right you can see my Cybernex terminal. The silver "shelf" the Altair is sitting on is actually one of my earlier homebuilt 8080 computers.

This was my main machine I used before the Altair - a homebuilt 8080 with integrated video (NTSC) and a Model-28 teletype for a printer. Mass strorage was a controllable audio tape deck which had been converted to data.

There were no "off the shelf" computers in this time period - keeping track of exactly what was installed in your machine and how it all worked involved a fair stack of paper.

Detail of 1st original Mits binder cover.

Detail of 2nd original Mits binder cover.

NorthStar Software Exchange - Library binder.