20 Apr
2000
20 Apr
'00
2:35 p.m.
Hi All,
A couple of years ago I picked up a second Altair. It was missing all the
cards except for a Godbout active terminator card and is missing the top
case. While working on it a couple of weeks ago I found a previous owner's
name in it. It recognized the name, it was a guy that I worked with for
many years at Martin Marietta. After some searching, I finally tracked him
down and asked him about the Altair. Here's his reply:
My EXwife 'disposed' of a fair amount of my equipment a few years back.
(She didn't pay the payments on the storage locked so the stuff was
trashed. ed)
The
Altair was in perfect shape, worked, had all of the cards and was attached
to a Hazeltine1500 CRT. It had a couple of 8 inch floppy drives and a CDC
Hawk 5x5 hard disk drive that fit a 19E rack. If I remember correctly, the
Altair was serial 28. It wasn't a kit but was a production (one of the
first off the line) model.
Interesting how things happen??? BTW, I still live in Orlando. The number
you gave was my work phone number when I was still working for Lockheed up
in Ocala. I commuted each day from Orlando...got old and just about wore my
car out.
Nice hearing from you after all this time.
Richard
Somehow a scrapper ended up with it. He evidently pulled the cards for
their scrap value. Then he sold the chassis at a hamfest. Another ex-Martin
employee bought it and years later I bought it from him. Does anyone have a
top case that they'll part with? My first Altair is nearly complete but I
still need the MITs floppy drive controller cards. Does anyone have a set
that they'll sell or trade? I have an original MITs floppy drive and
original MITs disks so I only need the controller cards to make it
operational.
Joe