23 May
2024
23 May
'24
11:19 p.m.
I think if you can find that colleague of yours again and then say “who is laughing now?”
Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
AI Consultant, PhD
+1 360-838-3675
On May 23, 2024, at 16:05, Chuck Guzis via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 5/23/24 12:53, Dave Dunfield via cctalk wrote:
I've just passed on my "Mits Altair
8800" - this is a very historic system
from the 70s - it is:
First Personal Computer (long before IBM PC)
First S100 buss system
First system Bill Gates wrote code for (long before Microsoft)
I don't think the "first" applies in this case. The MCM/70 used an 8008
and was complete computer with storage and display--something the MITS
8800 was not.
I spent the weekend soldering together my 8800 (CPU, SIO and 2x 4K DRAM)
system, cursing the cheap white wire in the process. Finally got it
running with a TVT.
I couldn't wait to show it to a female working in my section. She
dropped by my apartment, took one look at the thing sitting on my
kitchen table and burst out laughing. "That's not a computer; it's a
toy!" was her withering reaction.
I don't know if my male ego ever recovered from that. And I *hated* the
DRAM boards.
I do, however, still have the MITS box. Haven't run it in nearly 40 years.
--Chuck