The 100 pin bus defined by the Altair soon became an industry standard, and was adopted by many of the early 8080 and Z80 systems.
Click any photo to view a large high-resolution image.
The announcement of the Mits Altair 8800 in Jan 1975
Popular Electronics kicked off the personal computer revolution. The Altair is
the first successful and affordable personal computer. Inside
this machine are all Mits original boards, including a two-board cassette
interface which is used to load software such as Altair BASIC.
Here is a view of the back.
There are two Altair 8800s in my collection. The other one has been in my posession since it was nearly new, and documented extensively on my Altair page.
The NorthStar Horizon is reported to be the first microcomputer to ship with
internal diskette drives. This hard-sectored system requires special diskettes,
however it is very reliable.
View Inside, Back.
Horizon System Manual (200k PDF),
Users Manual (460k PDF),
My Horizon Simulator,
NorthStar 1978 Product Catalog (4M PDF)
Additional NorthStar documents are available on my
Altair documentation page.
Installed S-100 cards:
NorthStar: ZPB-A2. MDS-AD3 and 2S-64k.
Donated by Richard Parsons.
The Processor Technology SOL Terminal Computer started out as a simple terminal,
and grew into a full computer. Although it is a single-board system, it is also
an S100 machine with an optional buss expanion and cage. Originally sold as a
kit, I received my SOL only partially built and missing the main chassis
components.
The photo to the left is of a complete machine from a magazine advertisement - click it to see my unbuilt SOL parts. Restoration of this machine is an ongoing project - stay tuned.
The Vector Graphics Vector-1 is one of the first S-100 computers to eliminate
the front panel and rely on software in ROM to bootstrap the machine. This
Vector-1+ is a slight enhancement, moving some power supply components
allowed room for one internal 5.25" diskette drive.
Here is a view of the back, and a look inside.
Vector Graphics 1977 Catalog:
page1,
page2,
page3,
page4.
Price list: page1, page2.
My Horizon/Vector Simulator.
Godbout/Compupro was another manufacturer of S-100 systems.
Inside this rugged chassis is a 20 slot backplane
and a high-stability power supply with constant voltage transformer. Here is a
view of the back.
This particular system has a 16-bit 8086 processor. Here is the
Chassis manual
Installed S-100 cards:
Godbout: CPU186B, Disk1A, Disk2, Interfacer-4, Ram16, 172C.
Donated by Richard Parsons.
Another system using a power supply based on a constant voltage tranformer,
this compact TEI chassis features a 12 slot backplane.
Views:
Back,
Inside. Look carefully, and you will see that one
S-100 slot extends outside the chassis front wall (but behind the separate front
panel) - this chassis can accept a front panel such as the
IMSAI panel.
Installed S-100 cards:
Cromemco ZPU, Cromemco 16FDC, CCS-2065.
Donated by Michael Ball.
This Canadian built Wynchester system came to me loaded with
NABU 1100 cards (also Canadian), although I
do have some original Wynchester cards in my collection. The "Wynchester"
terminal is actually a rebadged SOROC. Here is a view of the
back, and a look
inside.
Donated by Richard Parsons.
This unique Multiflex S-100 mainboard combines a 4-slot backplane with a
keypad/display. a cassette tape interface, and an EPROM programmer. I believe
it was intended mainly as an educational system.
I am seeking more information on this system - if you can help, please contact me.
Donated by Richard Parsons.
The PRO-80 by Protec of Montreal, Quebec Canada is described as an "S-100
Trainer". Essentially a single-board Z80 computer, this unit features a
single S-100 expansion slot. The system incorporates 1K or ROM, 1K or RAM
(expandable on-board to 2K), and a keypad/display. The idea was to provide
a very low cost means of experiementing with S-100 cards, albeit one card
at a time. Download manual (2.5M PDF).
Donated by Richard Parsons.
The Compuduct "Rainbow" is a rather oddball S-100 system.. The
card cage uses the standard S-100 bus pinout,
however the power supplies are regulated and Compuduct cards are 1/3 higher
than standard S-100 cards. There are three standard S-100 cards in this system,
however the power regulators have been removed. This thing is also MASSIVE -
thats a 12" monitor! I am seeking more information on this system - if you
can help, please contact me.
Views:
Back,
Inside,
InfoLabel.
Donated by Richard Parsons.
Click this photo to visit my page on two very unique S-100 systems which are
complete homebuilt implementations of a TRS-80
Model III.
