THROWBACK THURSDAY: Altair 8800 PC

If it weren’t for the Altair 8800, I might be writing this blog on a typewriter. This was the device that started the age of the personal computer. By today’s standards, it’s impossibly simple. You can get a calculator for a dollar that will do about 100 times more. It wasn’t for the faint of heart, but for those who yearned to experience computing, it was a revelation.

Before the Altair 8800

Most people in the mid-1970s had never seen a computer. There had been a lot of growth in the computing industry since the Second World War, but computers were still out of the reach of many. In the 1960s, a computer could be counted on to fill an entire floor of an office building and require a full-time caretaker. By the 1970s, “minicomputers” which were about the size of a large refrigerator were common, but still weren’t something the average person would interact with.

Using a computer back in those days required patience and a lot of specialized knowledge. Being able to interact with a computer by voice or even using a standard keyboard was years away. That all changed in the 1970s as personal computers were introduced.

Forward to 1975

It doesn’t look like much but the Altair 8800 was the first successful personal computer. It came in a kit that cost about $500 for all you’d need (about one-quarter the price of an economy car) and required soldering and plenty of assembly to make it work.

Once you spent all the time putting it together, you couldn’t do much. It needed to be programmed letter by letter, word by word, and it was very limited in what it could do. Write a letter? Not really. Play a game? Maybe 20 questions, but nothing more complicated than that. Pictures? Sound? Color? Internet? These were all just dreams.

It would be another decade before anything even remotely resembling today’s PCs started appearing on desks, but back in 1975 the allure of this device to geeks was undeniable, especially since it was named for a planet on “Star Trek.” Back then, computers were a new and powerful idea, and having one of your very own, even one that did little more than flash its lights at you was a thrill. Before the Altair, computers were something that big companies or governments had. The closest thing today would be if somehow you had your own spaceship.

Big things sprung from the Altair’s humble precedents, though. Bill Gates wrote software for it, and because it used a disk and keyboard, so did every computer until the iPad. Even the way its boards came together turned into a standard used by computers until the mid 1980s.

If you have a stout heart and a comprehensive knowledge of 8080 assembly language, you can program a virtual Altair all for yourself using this simulator. Just five minutes with it and you will really get a true appreciation of the computer pioneers of old.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.