3 Oct
2001
3 Oct
'01
9:13 a.m.
At 11:16 AM 10/3/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Richard Erlacher said:
>> The Altair was never a computer that one interested in computing
>> would have bought for what the kit cost....
>
>So what Was the serious computer to buy for that era?
I don't think there was one that as individual could afford.
>It would probably be impossibly expensive, leaving
many,
>including the serious, without anything.
Corrert. That was the appeal of the Altair. The average person could
afford the basic kit ($500) and could afford to add on to it as they went.
Yes, the Altair had some design flaws but it could be made to work and
anything else was simple out of the question due to cost. I would guess
that least expensive "real" computer at that time would have been something
like the IBM 5100 but it was priced at about $7000!
I have to agree with Richard, I think the Altair will always be the holy
grail of computer collecting (and will be priced accordingly) simply
because of it's position in history.
Joe
John A.
DEC something?
Tandy 10?
Basic4?
Rotten core, I can't remember the one I really want to, Micron 100, maybe
something with an A or T at the start, but it was a whole chassis with
smoked glass doors etc., not some hobby machine.