Hi Greg, I saw Mike Douglas' Altair 8800c but he writes on his website that this is not a complete kit. I got the impression that he offers only the front panel PCBs, FDC and SIO and maybe the S100 motherboard. Thank you for the link to the S100computers group. There is a lot of useful info there. I am retired now and always wanted an Altair 8800. It is time to make that dream reality. The easiest and more affordable path would be the Altair 8800 clone but somehow I am more attracted to the non-emulated implementation. Thanks again Tom Hunter On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 3:02 AM Greg Beat <gregory.beat at gmail.com> wrote: > ?Tom, > Grant moved shortly after this Kit offering, over a decade ago. > That kit is OVER (Grant no longer offering). > > Participate in the S100computers Group: http://www.s100computers.com/ > Join the List at Google Group: S100Computers > https://groups.google.com <https://groups.google.com/my-groups> > > Grant special ordered the metal fabrication, at that time, from the > original metal fabricators (Optima, $$), who have gone thru mergers & > off-shoring. > Mike Douglas looked into that chassis possibility ? but was cost > prohibitive (>$300). > > Mike Douglas offers BOTH the Altair Clone (you referenced) AND > the Altair 8800c Kits (November 2018). This case he had fabricated is a > close look-a-like, but Lighter in weight. Still the case alone is $300 . > This case does not have the internal Optima sub chassis (weight) and rails. > ?https://deramp.com/altair_8800c.html > > Suggest you look at Mike?s multiple vintage computer offerings (web site) > AND > https://deramp.com/ > > His YouTube Videos (deramp5113). Here is the Altair 8800c, shown November > 2018 > https://youtu.be/Q5LjkL5b4n8 > > greg > w9gb > == > From: Tom Hunter <ccth6600 at gmail.com> > To: "General Discussion? <cctalk at classiccmp.org> > Subject: Altair 8800 reproduction > > About 10 years ago Grant Stockly in Anchorage Alaska produced high quality > MITS Altair 8800 reproductions in kit form. The website still exists: > http://www.altairkit.com/ > > I have tried to contact Grant but did not get a reply. Does anyone know if > these kits are still available? Is Grant on this forum? > > Alternatively is somebody else making complete Altair 8800 kits? I have > found people making individual boards but not a complete kit. > > There is also the Altair 8800 clone which is based on a PIC microcontroller > emulating the entire original Altair 8800. It is cute but not the real > thing. > > Thanks > Tom Hunter > > Sent from iPad Air >

On Jul 23, 2020, at 10:15 PM, Tom Hunter via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>> wrote: The easiest and more affordable path would be the Altair 8800 clone but somehow I am more attracted to the non-emulated implementation. Understood space, time, and money are always factors, but I?m curious whether that?s an XOR function or a simple OR (which would be satisfied with both)? Having played in software on ?modern? hardware might be pretty useful when it?s time to start bringing up the reproduction hardware.

I am not the most patient person. :-) While waiting for my Altair-Duino to arrive in the mail I discovered a cool JavaScript based implementation. It allows me to start playing with the Altair 8800 front panel and exercise the "machine". It does a fairly decent job. https://s2js.com/altair/ Cheers Tom Hunter On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 2:11 PM Tom Hunter <ccth6600 at gmail.com> wrote: > I thought about it long and hard. A fully configured Altair 8800c would > be at least $1200 plus shipping to Australia from all the different > component suppliers at least another $600. I would end up with a "real" > system but some parts wouldn't quite be real. For example the floppy drives > are emulated via a USB cable and a server running on a PC. It would be > possible to add real 8" or 5 1/4" drives plus power supplies plus cases and > cabling at great additional cost. At the end it would still be some hybrid > system with some modern bits substituting the original components. I would > have a nice S-100 bus system but it wouldn't be an authentic Altair 8800a. > So I decided to go down the fully emulated path and looked at Mike > Douglas's Altair 8800 clone and the Altair-Duino. > > I ended up buying the Altair-Duino a very promising Arduino Due (ARM) > based clone similar to Mike Douglas's clone but without the nice metal case. > This Altair-Duino kit is affordable, is open source and has a powerful > hardware platform. Now that I am retired I am time rich and money poor. > :-) > > The "Standard" kit is $149.95: > > https://www.adwaterandstir.com/product/altair-8800-emulator-kit/ > > Strangely the website says there is no stock available from the guy > himself, but Tindie has 4 in stock: > > > https://www.tindie.com/products/kb0wwp/altair-duino-standard/?pt=ac_prod_se… > > I can't wait for it to arrive. It is a long way from Minnesota to Western > Australia. Covid-19 doesn't speed it up either. :-( > > Cheers > Tom Hunter > > > On Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 1:12 AM Tapley, Mark B. via cctalk < > cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> On Jul 23, 2020, at 10:15 PM, Tom Hunter via cctalk < >> cctalk at classiccmp.org<mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>> wrote: >> >> The easiest and more affordable path would be the Altair >> 8800 clone but somehow I am more attracted to the non-emulated >> implementation. >> >> Understood space, time, and money are always factors, but I?m curious >> whether that?s an XOR function or a simple OR (which would be satisfied >> with both)? Having played in software on ?modern? hardware might be pretty >> useful when it?s time to start bringing up the reproduction hardware. >> >

On Aug 13, 2020, at 3:23 PM, Tom Uban via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: I have a DEC VRE01 terminal that I bought NIB years ago. For those who don't know about this model, it has a flat plasma (orange/black) display of about 17". It worked when I bought it, but now, years later, I tried powering it up and the light comes on for a moment and goes out. I suspect a power supply issue, but bitsavers does not seem to have this one. Does anyone have schematic (or other) documentation for it? --tnx --tom