[OT] Altair

[Larry Hudson]

On 08/30/2016 11:51 AM, Joe wrote:
> Am 30.08.2016 um 17:52 schrieb D'Arcy J.M. Cain:
>> On Tue, 30 Aug 2016 15:56:07 +0200
>> Joe <test at joepgen.com> wrote:
>>> Am 30.08.2016 um 13:01 schrieb D'Arcy J.M. Cain:
>>>> On Mon, 29 Aug 2016 21:21:05 -0700
>>>> Larry Hudson via Python-list <python-list at python.org> wrote:
>>>>> I remember it well.  It's what I used to initially learn C.  I'm a
>>>>> completely self-taught, hobby programmer.  Been around since the
>>>>> MITS Altair.  How many remember that beast??
>>>>
>>>> Remember it and still have it in the basement.
>>>>
>>> I read a lot about the Altair in Byte in those days, but never had a
>>> chance to touch it. Wasn't it horrible expensive?
>>

I don't think so.  The figure I have in my (very fallible) mind is $300 (or maybe $600) for my 
original Altair with 1K RAM and no peripherals.

>> I can't remember what is was going for but I bought mine used for
>> $1,000.  It had a number of add-ons including a keyboard and floppy
>> drives.  The power supply was also beefed up.
>>
>> It also had a replacement bezel.  It seems that the original Altair's
>> silk screened front panel was crappy and rubbed off easily.  Some
>> company sold one but it says "Cycloid" instead of "Altair" on it.
>>
>
> I think the first BASIC Interpreter ever sold by Gates & Friend was for this machine? How did
> you use your floppy drives on this machine (Open-Write-Close)?
>

('Friend' is Paul Allan.)

My first floppy was from Northstar Computers.  It used the first 5¼ drive made (by Shugart).  It 
came with it's own DOS and BASIC -- somewhat incompatible with Gates' Altair BASIC, but very 
usable.  (Anyway, Altair BASIC did not handle disks — at least the original version did not.)

The Northstar DOS was somewhat weird due to where it was located in memory.  The bottom 8K of 
RAM was free, the next 2K was the DOS (that's right a complete Disk-Operating-System in 2K of 
memory!).  The rest of available memory above that was also free.  The BASIC was also loaded in 
this memory above the DOS.

Trivia:  (and perhaps wrong) — The original name of Northstar Computers was Kentucky Fried 
Computers.

-- 
      -=- Larry -=-