18 Aug
1999
18 Aug
'99
5:47 a.m.
The thing to remember about the "good old days" of early microcomputers,
etc, is that most of the work was done by people who had the courage to do
it in spite of their complete lack of educational credentials and the
accompanying conventional prejudice. But for these courageous folks,
nothing might have been done for another decade, as the trend at the time
was to BE CONSERVATIVE.
These bold newcomers were opportunists, building S-100 because they got a
good deal on 100-pin edge connectors, for example, not because it was
necessarily the best choice from a technical standpoint. That's what
brought these machines to within the reach of the hobbyist/experimentor who
reinvented electronics engineering of the time.
The fact that the power supplies were "crap" was because they were built
with stuff the vendors believed, but only barely, would "work" though it was
bought primarily because it was "affordable." "Work" was loosely
defined,
and what was an inconvenience to the folks who bought the first Altair boxes
was a costly lesson to the folks who designed the things in an essential
vacuum.
Most of the guys I knew back then to be doing the design came from Math, the
Sciences, even Industrial Arts backgrounds, and they were working from a
perception of need, not from, with their own funds or funds begged or
borrowed from people who knew no more than they about what might happen.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: allisonp(a)world.std.com <allisonp(a)world.std.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, August 18, 1999 7:02 AM
Subject: Re: S100 box (was Re: imsai 2)
here)
judgements
RARELY
there
for
computer
Then you'd
end up with the piece of crap altair supply...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<VENT WARNING - proceed at your own risk>
Ahem... (with regard to the last line immediately above) Get Stuffed!
Thanky very much and, here's your sign!
Let me introduce myself...
in december of 1974 I got my copy of Popular Electronics as usual and lo
and behold there was Altair. Having some expereince with 8008 prior to
that and PDP-8 as well I wanted one and had saved some money. Off goes
order by then airmail! Arrived 4 weeks later (told thats a record too)
is 200th built Altair with a 4k memory and PIO. Built with in days and
I was for many weeks maybe months the first one I know of on LI to have a
machine.
NOW, there is NO question the PS was crap. The first transformers (two of
them for both voltages) were horribly undersized for the load, the
filter caps not to mention the diodes were also pretty over loaded. By
time spring came I'd finally gotten my 88ACR and another 4k of ram and
watche the PS fry. The transofrmer for +-16 was too light and I found a
suitable replacement. The somewhat larger +8 core was stripped and
rewound to provide 7.5V and the caps were tossed for some nice 55,000mFD
units.
LIke I said the design was CRAP!. MITS would later that summer send a new
pair of transformers that were better but still woefully undersized.
The were first, not best!
> If a capable group of people (please note the non-specific reference were available
and were such hot $#!* in 1975, why didn't they produce
something better???
They did. IMSAI was far better as was the Altair 8800B. Everyone that
follow surely learned from the errors from better poser supplies to
improved cooling and bus noise reduction.
> Twenty-Five years after the fact it is far too easy to pronounce
I said that at the time and quite bluntly, however it was cheap and most
of the problems could be overcome if you didn't mind applying some havey
modifications.
the
on the past, judged against the current
'state of the art'. But was
anything learned from it?
On my part yes, I'm still here. They arent.
In comparison to todays cars, the Model T was
CRAP but I don't see it
constantly being held up to ridicule. It, like the Altair and many other
early developments were done with the materials and skills that were
available AT THE TIME to the PEOPLE who got off their duffs and DID IT!
Actually in many ways that is not true and you know why.
> And all indications are that much was learned from it, as evidenced by rapid
followups by improved units like the IMSAI, the SOL, and even the
ALTAIR 'B' series.
The Bseries was how many years later? By then everyone was eating MITS
lunch.
> In every revolution, someone has to be the first... and guess what? > are they the shining example of the art that it
seems like some expect
that
> the Altair and its ilk should have been. More
often, they are the
> unskilled visionaries, the hacks, the garage bands, the hobbyists, or
even
just someone
out to make a quick buck and bail.
Yep, and all of the above applies.
> Maybe this is why it has been so hard to get people really interested in
> the HISTORY behind computers. It has just happened all too fast, and > has not been enough time for the whole art
(science if you prefer) to
gain
any respect.
As a practicing engineer then and now while the idea of cheap facinated
me, I was surprized that things know to the industry were not apparently
know to those guys. It's why by early '78 that box was for the most part
permanenty retired. It is still in my collection and while first from my
engineering perspective it serves as shining example of HOW NOT TO DO
IT. It stays in the collection as MY first one and how persistance
allowed me to do things that were difficult then with the hardware
available (to me).
> Or we get the people that came from the jobs that some of up would died > back then. Working with 'real computers',
built by well trained (I like
to
believe)
people in 'real companies', with a 'real goal' ahead of them...
Reality check folks, that was a whole other world from the reality that
some of us grew up in!
Oh, guess my resume doesn't qualify.
> So, (not that anything I will ever say is likely to stop anyone) call it
> what you will, but to some few of us who were still in awe of computers
> back in 1975, and the Altair or some similar device was the first that we could
ever call our own, it was magic!
It was majik. No question but as someone that was there there was more
magic in our dreams. Those dreams I may add were all to often spent
chasing a design of the machine error when the real desire was to crank
code! Or watching our really neat VDM1 demo fry as bus nise crashed the
machine.
Like the Model T those of us that have driven one, worked on the engine
understand why it deserves to be preserved, driven and documented as it
it's effect on the world. It does not negate that it's a crude machine.
The later will never change but history knows that too. It's partly the
reason for the AAA and a lot of other inovations!
With that in mind the computer equivelent of AAA was the Homebrew
Computer Club, LICA<Long Island Computer Association>, BCC <boston
computer Society> and so on. They were there to help those that couldn't
cope with the design errors, limitations or outright shoddy design on
their way to accomplishing a dream which wa often very different from
coping with a machine that didn't work as could be expected.
Not a rant, just a loud, wake up! The good old days were more than simple.
VCF is dedicated to showing the full story, all of it including the dirty
sides like the World Power SCAM.
Allison