Altair 8800 name Was: Re: Altair 680 Expansion Boards?

[drlegendre .]

Dammat.

"were not limited" -> "were more limited"

On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 9:15 PM, drlegendre . <drlegendre at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have my own ridiculous ad-hoc hypothesis on this..
>
> Both names have a couple things in common - first, they do +not+ contain
> the actual CPU model. This may have been to avoid marketplace confusion and
> potential legal action from a outfit much bigger than Altair (Now who makes
> the 8080 again? Intel or Altair??).
>
> Secondly, the non-zero digits are in the same order in both model names -
> 680 (6800) and 8800 (8080). This most definitely does evoke the CPU model,
> and is easily recalled. The decision to go with 8800 (vs. 8008) may have
> been arbitrary, though "eighty-eighty" sounds a whole lot like
> "eighty-eight". The options for the 6800-based machine were not limited -
> other than 680, they had 6800 (sounds too much like 8800, though a case can
> be made for it..) and things like 6080 which would be just kind of weird
> (that's a well-known vacuum tube, btw).
>
> It's also worth noting that the 680 is physically smaller than the 8800,
> and the shorter three-digit model number seems to evoke a smaller product.
>
> On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 6:06 PM, Sam O'nella <barythrin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 5:54 PM, js at cimmeri.com <js at cimmeri.com> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> >
>> > On 12/17/2016 1:23 PM, Stephen Pereira wrote:
>> >
>> >> I was (finally) lucky enough to acquire an Altair 680 back in
>> November...
>> >>
>> >
>> > Is there any logic to the naming of these Altairs?   Wonder why it
>> wasn't
>> > "Altair 8080" and "Altair 6800".   8800 and 680 don't follow the same
>> > pattern.
>> >
>> > ------
>> >
>> > Had MITS made other Altairs...
>> >
>> > Altair 8800 = 8080
>> >        8850 = 8085
>> >        8860 = 8086
>> >        8880 = 8088
>> >        8286 = 80286
>> >        8386 = 80386
>> >        680  = 6800
>> >        680  = 6809
>> >        680  = 68000
>> >
>> > ;-),
>> >
>> > - JS
>> > ----------------------------
>> >
>> lol, I would love to hear that too if anyone knows any stories behind the
>> naming. Used to hurt my head to remember that it was an 8800 not an 8080.
>> I know the fairly well published story about the name Altair but companies
>> and their model numbers are always odd.
>>
>
>