Actually, the disk drives sold by Tandy for the Model I had the air vents above the PSU going side to side on the case, not front to back as the units in his pictures show. I also have a second aftermarket noname drive for the Model I that is nearly identical to the TRS-80 badged drive but it has two sets of air vents, situated next to each other, with the slots still running side to side. Given that he states a NorthStar disk controller is installed, it's not inconceivable that they are aftermarket cases with user-supplied drives for use with that Altair. Jeff -- Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File http://www.cchaven.com http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757

Those sort of 5 1/4 drive cases were pretty common (at least up in this neck of the woods) with the northstar floppy controller in it, i'd bet that it is using the 5 1/4 drives, and has been for quite some time. (i didn't see a tandy label on them and I don't remember tandy ever shipping drives with the doorlock switch on the front... At 09:35 PM 10/2/01 -0400, you wrote:

I agree, but my guess is that the signigicant monetary value will be about $100 in most cases, ie incomplete non working units with no docs, no software, and no history. Ask your self this question, at what price would I buy such a unit? $1000, $500, $250, $100, or a lot less than a $100?

Don't forget that there are folks out there who buy things knowing that other will pay lots for them under the right circumstances. The Altair was never a computer that one interested in computing would have bought for what the kit cost. It was an electronics toy, from the design on, and the fact it was ultimately the "first" microcomputer for the masses is purely accidental. It was targeted at those same guys that built the noisemakers and light blinkers. That's why it was advertised where it was. Attempting to evaluate its value to collectors based on its merit as a computer is a serious mistake. It's like a rare coin. It still looks to me like a penny. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Ford" <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 10:59 PM Subject: Re: Altair 8800a on EBAY

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.

When did the H-11 become available, and what did it cost? Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck McManis" <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 1:28 PM Subject: Re: Altair 8800a on EBAY

At 01:54 PM 10/3/01 -0600, you wrote: '75, I'm pretty certain that it was the cover article in the Jan 1976 issue of Popular Electronics. Once the Altair was "out there" a number of computer makers came out was I used to have an AM-100. I don't know a lot about it but I do know that it used the S-100 bus but it was a 16 bit system. It had to fetch two 8 bit words just like the original IBM PC. saw I had one but finally sold it since I coulden't find any docs, manuals, SW or anything else for. I couldn't even find the instruction set for the CPU! Joe

Are the original articles available anywhere on the web? I'd love to read them. Thanks, Chandra -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Sellam Ismail Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 8:20 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Altair 8800a on EBAY On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Joe wrote: in It was the January 1975 issue, with part 2 in February 1975. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Dicomed made a line of film recorders. I used one at the image processing lab doing 16384 x 16384 renderings of high resolution image on to 220 film. "Draft Mode" was 4096 x 4096. It consisted of a precision CRT, some optics, and a mechanical assembly that would write film one line at a time. Then switch color filters and write it again. --Chuck At 08:38 PM 10/3/01 -0700, you wrote:

Thats it, the Alpha Micro. Programma International had one, and they about danced in circles around it. Totally useless payroll only machine, but it sure looked nice.

I went to school with Randy Hyde at UC Riverside, and we shared a couple early business ventures. He started working actively for Programma on the Apple II, and talked me into taking the Atari 400 Programma received from Atari along with the first developement cartridges that existed outside of Atari. I ported two or three generic games in basic to the Atari, which failed to get my name written into all the history books (guess which game). The wiz kid at PI was IIRC a 14 year old named William Robinson, who managed to buy a Porsche 928 a couple years before he had a license. The secret of success is that the games were based off the top sellers in toy stores, ie connect 4 etc., so I spent a few days at ToyRus, then cranked out about half a dozen pretty darn good games. The catch was that Atari, while they supplied assembler and basic developement cartridges, and had a "agreement" with PI, they would not release any details on the Antic or Pokey video and sound chips. No special graphics or sound, meant rotten sales and I ended up not getting a dime for close to a years work. Some months later a different software house, I am thinking Beagle Bros, but maybe Sierra, fully cracked the Atari specialty chips and wrote a reference manual. It was some serious bucks, and I decided to move on to embedded programming where the pay checks could be cashed and rent paid. One of the things I hope to find "intact" in all my junk are the source files for the various games, which I am pretty sure I printed to paper, put on cassette, and even saved to a floppy. Back to the topic Programma was in an annex of the Ambasidor Hotel, and we used to walk up the service enterance through the corridor Bobby Kenndy was killed in. The two guys running the place were real characters, Dave Gordon, who was the biggest collector I ever met (bootlegs, tapes etc.), and I can't remember the other guys name, but he was a serious computer guy from Rand I think, and he and Randy cooked up PIE, Programma Internation Editor. Basically Randy did a real slick assembly language port of the Rand concept, so even on a plain Apple II it was FAST. It supported the radical for its time features of scrolling (vertically) though a document, cutting and pasting, with its strength also its weakness. All the commands were keyboard codes, ctrl this or that, which gave it a bit of a learning curve, but once mastered it really cooked.

At 11:16 AM 10/3/01 -0700, you wrote: I don't think there was one that as individual could afford. 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

I think The Holy Grail of computer collecting is something along the lines of the DEC PDP-1. Or maybe an EDSAC. Peace... Sridhar On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Sellam Ismail wrote:

Depending on the exact time frame, it could be the DEC VAX 11/730 that was the machine everyone was drooling over. Or the IBM S/38. Peace... Sridhar On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Mike Ford wrote:

On Wed, 3 Oct 2001, Ethan Dicks wrote: Actually, I didn't have an 11/730 back then. What I did have, though, was a good deal faster, although slightly less capable. I grew up around a DEC PDP-11/70. It was an experience I appreciate today. Yeah, but it was a hell of a lot cheaper and used less power and space than an 11/750. I believe that was actually the machine to which I meant to refer. 8-) Peace... Sridhar

--- Tony Duell <ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote: I got an 11/725 from a former employer in 1986 or 1987 (whenever DEC temporarily embargoed VMS license transfers). It was $4000. I was living the life of a student while making decent wages as a programmer. I had lots of spare cash for expensive toys then (fortunately, in the case of this VAX, it didn't cost me the prevailing used price at the time, but I know I forked over more than $2K for it - still have the VMS license in my name!) In 1989, we (different employer) got that VAX 8200 I have now - $12,000, only because I had them strip out the parts we didn't need, and we pre-paid it - it was originally listed at $14,000. If you had multiple-thousands of dollars, you could get a VAX at home prior to 1988, but in practice, I doubt it happened very often. Mostly, hard-core DECies had PDP-11s and PDP-8s. Placing it in its historical context, size wasn't the issue I was objecting to - I got my first 19" racks at home in 1983 when I was still in high school (PDP-8/i in one rack, DF-32 in another). I know hams who had racks then. It was cost compared to other items. Home VAXen were extremely rare 15 years ago. I know; I had one. I still have various glossies with prices from those days. The stuff was not cheap, but it was great. -ethan __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? NEW from Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month. http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1

Though the "old computer" market has reflected little that resembles any sort of common sense. I can't imagine why you'd believe that an item, the supply of which is finite, and the demand for which seems to have grown steadily since its introduction, in spite of its qualitative aspects, (meaning I think it is, was, and always will be a bit of rubbish, but that's from where I sit) would decrease in the future. Its value hasn't increased, but its price has. That's the way of things collectable. After a certain point, its technical merits are completely irrelevant. Think of it as a big, clunky, indian-head penny. I'd say your guesstimate of a decrease in the future is based more on wishful thinking than on a realistic view of the collectors' probable behavior. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Ford" <mikeford(a)socal.rr.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 10:11 AM Subject: Re: Altair 8800a on EBAY