Artifact Details

Description

Dimensions are with tape rolled. Replica of original paper tape.

The Altair 8800 kit was introduced as the cover story on the January 1975 edition of Popular Electronics. Though 'home-brew' experimental systems existed well before the Altair, none had the Altair's wide- reaching popularity. Word length: 8 bits. CPU Circuitry: Intel 8080. Primary Memory: 256 Bytes. Price: $ 397. The Altair inspired Bill Gates, then at Harvard University, to write a BASIC interpreter so that users could easily program the machine. This was the start of Microsoft. MITS was sold to Pertec and the Altair line did not last long. Paper tape was signed by Bill Gates during his appearance at the museum on Oct. 1, 2004 (acid free pen used for signature).

Date

2002-04-07

Publisher

Gates, Bill Jr.

Version

Preservation copy

Dimensions

overall: 1 in x 1 13/16 in x 1 13/16 in

Format

Paper tape

Subject

Homebrew; Computer language; Software; Allen, Paul; Gates, Bill

Credit

Gift of Bill Gates Jr.

Lot Number

X507.84

Related Records

102798138	Altair BASIC source tape
X507.84	First BASIC interpreter written for the MITS Altair