Competing machines such as the Altair 8800 generally were programmed with front-mounted toggle switches and used indicator lights ( red LEDs, most commonly ) for output, and had to be extended with separate hardware to allow connection to a computer terminal or a teletypewriter machine.

He had seen BASIC on minicomputers and felt it would be the perfect match for new machines like the MITS Altair 8800.

In microcomputers, SWTPC's 6800 and 6809 machines used TSC's FLEX disk operating system, Radio Shack's TRS-80 machines used TRS-DOS, their Color Computer used OS-9, and most of the Intel 8080 based machines from IMSAI, MITS ( makers of the legendary Altair 8800 ), Cromemco, North Star, etc., used the CP / M-80 disk operating system.

The Intel 4004 was a 4-bit processor released in 1971, but in 1973 the Intel 8080, an 8-bit processor, made the first personal computer, the Altair 8800, possible.

Digital Research licensed CP / M for the IMSAI 8080, a popular clone of the Altair 8800.

* Steve Dompier: Homebrew Computer Club member and hacker who worked with the early Altair 8800

** Altair 8800 is released, sparking the microcomputer revolution.

Early computers ( such as the IBM 650, DEC PDP-5 through PDP-8, early models of the PDP-11, and early microcomputers such as the Altair 8800 ) have a row of dials or toggle switches on the front panel that allow the operator to manually enter the boot instructions into memory before transferring control to the CPU.

The earliest models such as the Altair 8800 were often sold as kits to be assembled by the user, and came with as little as 256 bytes of RAM, and no input / output devices other than indicator lights and switches, useful as a proof of concept to demonstrate what such a simple device could do.

A collection of early microcomputers, including a Processor Technology SOL-20 ( top shelf, right ), an MITS Altair 8800 ( second shelf, left ), a TV Typewriter ( third shelf, center ), and an Apple I in the case at far right.

Of the early " box of switches "- type microcomputers, the MITS Altair 8800 ( 1975 ) was arguably the most famous.

The first to establish a de facto standard was the Altair 8800, developed 1974-1975.

He had seen BASIC on minicomputers and felt it would be the perfect match for new machines like the MITS Altair 8800, which had been released in January 1975.

* Ed Roberts, MD, founder of MITS and creator of the Altair 8800 microcomputer, widely regarded as starting the microcomputer revolution.

They came to the meetings to talk about the Altair 8800 and other technical topics and to exchange schematics and programming tips.

* MITS Altair 8800

Altair 8800 Computer with 8 inch floppy disk system

The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU.

January 1975 Popular Electronics with the Altair 8800 computer

* MITS Altair 8800 exhibit at old-computers. com's virtual computer museum

* Altair 8800 Emulator

* Altair 8800 images and information at vintage-computer. com

* Video Altair 8800 Serial number 21

* Video of 1KB Altair 8800 memory card

As Steve Wozniak, the creator of Integer BASIC and the only person who understood it well enough to add floating point features, was busy with the Disk II drive and controller and with Apple DOS, Apple turned to Microsoft, who was the BASIC vendor of choice after their success with Altair BASIC, and licensed a 10 KB assembly language version of BASIC dubbed " Applesoft.

The angular diameter of Altair was measured interferometrically by R. Hanbury Brown and his co-workers at Narrabri Observatory in the 1960s.

Altair was later observed to be flattened by infrared interferometric measurements made by the Palomar Testbed Interferometer in 1999 and 2000.

This phenomenon, known as gravity darkening or the von Zeipel effect, was confirmed for Altair by measurements made by the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer in 2001, and analyzed by Ohishi et al.

Japan Airlines's Starjet 777-200 JA8983 was named Altair.

In astrology, the star Altair was ill-omened, portending danger from reptiles.

The first Altair version was co-written by Gates, Allen, and Monte Davidoff.

In fact, when Bill Gates ' version of BASIC for the Altair was shared among the hacker community, Gates claimed to have lost a considerable sum of money because few users paid for the software.

Rigel was known as Yerrerdet-kurrk to the Wotjobaluk koori of southeastern Australia, and held to be the mother-in-law of Totyerguil ( Altair ).

The combination of CP / M and S-100 bus computers loosely patterned on the MITS Altair was an early " industry standard " for microcomputers, and this computer platform was widely used in business through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s, expanding to include 16-bit CPUs and multiuser capability.

Although the Altair itself was only a mild commercial success, it helped spark a huge industry.

The first meeting was held in March 1975 in French's garage in Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, on the occasion of the arrival in the area of the first Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems Altair microcomputer, a unit sent for review by People's Computer Company.

Today the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that led to the microcomputer revolution of the next few years: The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.

Altair is located 16. 7 light-years ( 5. 13 parsecs ) from Earth and is one of the closest stars visible to the naked eye.

Altair is one of the few stars for which a direct image has been obtained.

His company was Processor Technology, one of the most successful Altair compatible board suppliers.

* α Aql ( Altair ) is the brightest star in this constellation and one of the closest naked-eye stars to Earth at a distance of 17 light-years.

Two major novae have been observed in Aquila: the first one was in 389 BC and was recorded as being as bright as Venus ; the other ( Nova Aquilae 1918 ) briefly shone brighter than Altair, the brightest star in Aquila.

Dec Terminal was one of the first terminal programs for the popular Altair.

* Altair is the name of one of Sheik Ilderim's horses in Ben Hur.

It soon was, the authors got one of the first Altair computers and designed an interface for the camera.

The March 1976 issue had the " Pennywhistle Modem " and the July 1976 issue had the " SOL Intelligent Terminal " The SOL, built by Processor Technology, was really an Altair compatible computer and became one of the most successful personal computers at that time.

Because it was the first mass marketed and the first widely copied calculator, its design marks the starting point of the mechanical calculator industry, which eventually morphed into the electronic calculator industry and which, through the accidental design of the first microprocessor to be commercialized, the Intel 4004, for one of Busicom's calculator in 1971, led to the first commercially available personal computer, the Altair in 1975.

Felsenstein was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club, which formed in 1975 in response to the appearance of the Altair 8800 computer kit.

In one story, the stars Altair and Vega were said to be two lovers who were allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month, when a flock of magpies and crows formed a bridge over the galactic river.