Finally part 4 o,f the manual present as detaile d listing of the altah. Start your research by looking at the altair 8800 operators manual. Sure, there are other altair 8800 clones out there, but all seemed out of reach for a simple workingman hobbyist. For a long time i have thought it would be cool to have an altair 8800 computer to play around with. The order of the manuals below is the order in the altair 8800 reproduction kit binder. This board contains the 8080 microprocessor chip, bus drivers, the system clock, miscellaneous gating logic and the system status latch. It captured my imagination and i knew that someday i would build and own my own computer. Approximately in the same location as the original imsai cpu board. Assembly manual available for download with standard kit. However, the clone is not a beginners kit and these instructions wont teach you how to solder components on a pcb, solder connectors, or show you the difference between a resistor and a diode. View and download altair 8800 clone operators manual online. This manual will exnlain the features of the basic language and the secial. It is a serious personal computer, with all the capability and performance of the fullsize mits altair 8800 in a package that fits in your pocket. The mits assembly instructions for this board start on page 64 of the altair 8800 assembly manual.
The small size and low price are the result of advances in semiconductor technology, clever packaging, minimizing parts count, and a highly innovative. Arguably the first personal computer, the altair 8800 is the machine that inspired steve jobs and bill gates. Processor the altair 8800 was designed for 8bit processor with support for some 16bit operations 2mhz max clock speed implemented with 6m nmos required 12v, 5v, and 5v rails due to poor electrical design 64kib max addressable memory. The manual is for timesharing basic version 2, but the version running on the computer is version 1. Altair basic was the start of the microsoft basic product range. These proms are normally addressed at fc00h through ffffh, using the prom addr switches. Mits altair 8800 computer steves computer collection. The designers hoped to sell a few hundred buildityourself kits. Up until this point, mits was known for selling calculators and model rocket components telemetry. Jun, 2016 altair 8800 8 pin molex original 8 pin molex connector, 0.
January 1975 popular electronics the issue that introduced the mits altair 8800. It was microsofts first product as microsoft, distributed by mits under a contract. Refer to the following schematics for the cpu board operation. The new board set was created for the following reasons. I never did get an altair 8800 the computer revolution was started and it moved fast. For example, an tltltp instruction which references a memory address such as jmp requires. Keep in mind that all the manuals contain a mistake or two or more. The imsai 3d computer model build by john is really stunning, see the screenshots. Emphasis is placed on those portions of the computer most frequently utilized by the user. This is mostly highlytechnical information on the operations of the 8800. The 8800 cpu board is the 11 heart11 of the altair system.
Volume includes ads for swtpc ct1024 terminal and mitscope. View and download mits altair 8800b documentation online. The mits altair 8800 is a microcomputer designed in 1974 based on the intel 8080 cpu. Altair 8800 computer, altair 32 emulator, altair front panel. They are probably the highest quality altair manuals out. Altair 8800 mother board this is pn 88ec partsprice list.
The altair 8800 computer system is designed around intels 8080 microprocessor. View and download mits altair 680b assembly online. To follow are selections relevant to mits altair 8800. There are a total of 400 solder joints to make on this board. Nov 27, 2006 restored altair 8800 construction manual, technical manual, operators manual, as well as my own full color assembly guide with stepbystep instructions illustrating the assembly process. Interest grew quickly after it was featured on the cover of the january 1975 issue published in december 1974 of popular electronics, and was sold by mail order through advertisements there, in radioelectronics, and in other hobbyist magazines. The altair 8800 instructions are described in detail in part 4 of this manual. The stop switch is designed to put the 8080 into a wait state on an instruction. Word of this got back to bill gates and prompted this open letter to hobbyists in 1976. In the altair manual there are two listings, one 21. The intel 8080 is a complete central processing unit cpu on a single lsi. For example, an tlt ltp altair 8800 operators manual. The z80 core then was used together with john kichurys front panel library, to build exact emulations of the altair 8800, imsa 8080 and cromemco z1 computer systems, that can be fully operated via the front panel similar to the original machines. Mits altair 8800b documentation pdf download manualslib.
View and download mits altair 8800 operators manual online. The original front panel board does not work with an altair 8800b cpu board. Download mits altair 8800 assembly manual manualslib. The heyday of the altair lasted only a short while. Desktop mits altair 8800 operators manual 94 pages. Using the due i now have an altair 8800 simulator that runs at about the original speed, provides 64k of emulated ram, includes lots of altair software and still can provide 32k of semipermanent storage to load and save programs and data in the emulator. Parts 2 and 3 in the manual describ thee organizatio ann d operation of the lmir 5500. Represented by up to two bytes after the instruction. B sure e t o read thi s ove r carefull befory continuinge. Znpootto 2 m logic, fzectric logtc numbe r terns binar, y system. Imsai 8080 16 pin dip standard 16 pin dip, machine socket suggested. Parts 2 and 3 in the manual describe the organization and operation of the altair 8800.
At this point in time, there were no computer or electronic stores to buy your own computer. Emphasi is placesd o n those portions of the compute mosr t frequentl utilizey bdy the user. Prom the turnkey module includes four 1702a prom sockets, for a total of 1kbytes of prom space. Altair 8800 project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Make sure that you do not bridge any pins together. If you want some help along the way, the altair experience link on the. Related manuals for mits altair 8800 desktop mits altair 8800 operators manual 94 pages desktop mits altair 8800b documentation 338 pages. This kit comes with a micro sd card preloaded with disk images including altair dos, altair basic, and cpm with plenty of useful and entertaining programs at least for the late 70s. The altair 8800 is a microcomputer designed in 1974 by mits and based on the intel 8080 cpu. Department of computer science, columbia university.
Altair 8800 clone kit introduction ver, may 2014 in comparison to assembling the original altair, the altair 8800 clone is a simple kit. This manual describes the assembly and test procedures. Altair 8800 clone operators manual pdf download manualslib. The intel 8080 emulator code is based on apple80 by dann mccreary. This is a beginner to intermediate kit for people with experience soldering. Finally, part 4 of the manual presents a detailed listing of the altair 8boos 78 instructions. Altair basic is a discontinued interpreter for the basic programming language that ran on the mits altair 8800 and subsequent s100 bus computers. Altair 8800 computer, altair 32 emulator, altair front.
I was a child of 9 years old when the altair 8800 was announced on the pages of popular electronics magazine in january of 1975. Over 80 hours has been put just into the documentation deleting copy machine specks, positioning text blocks and page numbers, etc the manual is printed on. Known as the altair bus or s100 bus by third parties. The pdf is in the cisc367 directory in the members area. Apr 01, 2021 the altair 8800 was, to its creators, a surprise hit. Altair 2sio serial interface 882sio altair floppy disk 88dcdd cassette interface 88acr altair vectored interruptreal time clock 88virtc altair centronics. The only options were to build your own system from plans and designs published or sold in. More information be sure to look at the timesharing basic manual altair manuals\mits time sharing basic.
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