Altair 8800

In January 1975, when MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) launched the Altair 8800, no one suspected that this small metal box selling for less than $400 would revolutionize the computing world. Yet this first personal computer to achieve genuine commercial success had just been born in the facilities of a company on the brink of bankruptcy.

The story begins with H. Edward Roberts, an electrical engineering graduate from Oklahoma State University who served as an officer in the US Air Force. At the Albuquerque weapons laboratory, he met Forrest Mims III. Together, they worked on laser and model rocket projects. This collaboration gave birth to MITS in 1969, a company specializing in telemetry instruments for model aviation.

The company then turned to electronic calculators and enjoyed several profitable years. But in 1974, competition from major manufacturers caused prices to collapse. Roberts saw his revenue plummet. He needed to find something else, fast. That’s when he envisioned an affordable personal computer, an idea that seemed crazy when computing was the exclusive domain of large corporations and universities.

The Intel 8080 microprocessor had just arrived on the market. This 8-bit component far surpassed its predecessor, the Intel 8008. Roberts saw an opportunity to build his machine. The Altair’s architecture leveraged the processor’s capabilities: a 16-bit address bus accessing 65,000 words of memory, a basic instruction set of 78 instructions, and most importantly an expandable bus system. The basic configuration offered only 256 words of RAM, expandable by the user according to their needs and budget.

The Altair’s front panel was striking in its apparent complexity. Rows of switches and LEDs enabled direct programming in machine language. A spartan approach that discouraged novices, but one that reflected the cost constraints of the era.

Roberts bet everything on an article in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics. With William Yates, he wrote a paper with a catchy title: “World’s First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” The magazine came out in December 1974, and the response exceeded all expectations. MITS had hoped to sell a few hundred units; orders arrived by the thousands within the first few days.

This wave revealed the existence of a market that no one had truly imagined. The Altair attracted two young Harvard students, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, who developed a BASIC interpreter for the machine. This was the birth of Microsoft. In March 1975, the Homebrew Computer Club formed around the Altair in Silicon Valley. Steve Wozniak cut his teeth there and presented the work that would lead to the creation of Apple Computer.

The Altair’s technical influence extended to making its system bus a standard known as S-100. Many manufacturers adopted this architecture for their own machines. The Altair used the CP/M operating system, which would dominate the microcomputer market until the arrival of the IBM PC and MS-DOS. The modular approach, with its expansion cards, inspired an entire generation of computers.

The machine’s limitations reflected the state of technology in 1975. No screen, no keyboard in the standard version. Programming was done through the front panel switches, a laborious exercise that deterred beginners. Memory was scarce and users had to wait for expansions to have real storage capabilities. But these constraints stimulated creativity: a multitude of manufacturers developed compatible cards and peripherals, creating a genuine ecosystem.

MITS discovered the joys and sorrows of unexpected success. The company struggled to fulfill orders and maintain an acceptable level of quality on hand-assembled kits. Technical support, provided notably through the Computer Notes bulletin, was not always sufficient in the face of questions from users sometimes overwhelmed by the complexity of their purchase. These growing pains did not prevent success, but they illustrated the challenges of creating a new market.

The Altair adventure ended in 1977 with the sale of MITS to Pertec Computer Corporation. Production ceased, but the legacy endured. The machine had proven that a personal computer could be commercially viable and technically credible. It gave birth to a community of enthusiasts that foreshadowed modern computing culture.

The Altair 8800 marks the boundary between two worlds: that of institutional computers, reserved for insiders, and that of personal computing, promised to all. Its open and modular architecture laid the foundation for principles that still govern the industry today. The enthusiasm it sparked among hobbyists transformed a technical curiosity into a cultural movement. More than an engineering feat, the Altair demonstrated that a different relationship with computing was possible.