One reference says that Yates was a hardware engineer who, with Roberts and Jim Bybee, designed the Altair before Gates and Allen were on the scene. See: http://www.inventors.about.com/science/inventors/library/weekly/aa120198.htm Another reference identifies Yates as a former Air Force officer with an aeronautical engineering background: http://ieee.cincinnati.fuse.net/reiman/03_1998.html Couldn't find anything about van Baalen, but if Yates is not Gates, then it is likely that van Baalen is not Allen. --Mike Michael Nadeau Editorial Services 603-893-2379 ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Allain" <John.Allain(a)Donnelley.InfoUSA.Com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 1:12 PM Subject: RE: Popular Computing on eBay for $150+

Given that average lead times in magazines to publication is two months, and Gates and Allen got the January issue from the newsstand, which is later than a subscription anyway, the Feb issue was already at the printers' before they would have had a chance to read the Jan issue all the way through. Paul Braun WD9GCO Cygnus Productions nerdware_nospam(a)laidbak.com "A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."

At 08:16 PM 2/28/01 -0800, you wrote: And I was watching Star Trek the other night, the "Nomad" episode. The network was placing snippets on the screen ala Pop-up Videos, and they claimed "Nomad" was originally named "Altair" in an early script. - John

On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Mark Gregory wrote: board. The pictures in the Jan/75 issue of PE show three boards being stacked one upon the other with 1" standoffs in between. Was this a mock-up? Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Several years ago I interviewed Forrest Mims III (one of the co- founders of MITS, and also the author of piles of Radio Shack project books, many of which kept me out of trouble when I was growing up.....I now have several of them signed by Forrest, along with a couple of original schematics from one of those books) while I was really psyched up about starting a computer museum (before I found this list and realized that I was not only not alone in my desires, but also a complete rank amateur.....) He did, in fact, confirm that story. He also said that Len Feldman (then-editor of PE) really was the one who pushed Roberts into doing the article, and that Feldman was also one to quickly take credit for the entire Altair phenomenon. He also remembers Ed Roberts going to the airport to pick up Paul Allen in an old pickup truck..... He never really met Gates and Allen when they had an office at MITS. He said he was pretty much out of the daily operations of the company by that point. He only remembers stopping by a couple of times and hearing a lot of goofing off coming from one of the back rooms.... ----- Original Message ----- Paul Braun WD9GCO Cygnus Productions nerdware_nospam(a)laidbak.com "A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."

Tony, Neat find! Yes, that's the same MITS. They got their start selling kits ofor clocks and calculators and the like. A friend of mine has one of their clocks. I've been trying to talk him out of it but no such luck! Joe At 06:42 PM 3/2/01 +0000, you wrote:

On Fri, 2 Mar 2001, Tony Duell wrote: Tony, could you please post the exact title and author of this book? I'd like to find a copy. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org

Damn. That's it. I'm definitely going to bed now. I know better than to try and be intelligent at this hour, yet I went ahead and tried anyway. Len Feldman? Where the hell did THAT come from? He's the guy I meant Les Solomon. I give up. Time for a small bowl of Phish Food and my jammies. Paul Braun WD9GCO Cygnus Productions nerdware_nospam(a)laidbak.com "A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without a bunch of bricks tied to its head."