Mitts Altair 8800 Microcomputer started a wonderful friendship

MITS Altair 8800 Started Friendship

Click on photo to enlarge

L-R John Simkiss, Altair 8800
 SN414 and David Larsen - 2015

This Altair - one of several dozen in my "Bugbook Histroical Microcomputer Collection" has many stories to tell. One is John's visit last Sunday 3/8/20 to fly down from Philadelphia in his private plane and have breakfast with my wife Gaynell and I. one more story is the day he picked up the Altair 8800 in 2015.  Many more however in  this blog I will discuss these two.

John's Aircraft is a
Red "Cirrus"

John told me he would meet at 8:30 AM and he landed at 8:31- great timing into the Blacksburg/Montgomery airport on the Virginia Tech Campus.

That is John and Gaynell in photo to left just after touchdown. We had delightful conversation during breakfast at the Inn at Virginia Tech.

John needed to be back in Philadelphia at 1:00 PM and he sent me a photo showing the Cirrus  tied down at 12:59 P M.

This video really tells the story of John picking up the Altair 8800 in 2015. Interesting "CLICK"

Inside view of Altair 8800
SN 414.

This Altair 8800 SN414 was probably in the first or second production run.  Ed Robert the Founder of the MITS company expected about 500 orders for his computer and was inundated with 5000 orders the first month.  This is a very low serial number and a valuable microcomputer.

The earliest Altair 8800 in my collection was SN 21. I purchased this 8800 from a fellow that was one of the dozens that drove down to Albuquerque, New Mexico and waited in the parking lot of the MITS companty to get there Altair first before shipments began. Altair 8800 SN21 is now located at the "Computer Museum of America"  in Roswell GA along with the other 13,000 items in my historical microcomputer collection.

John looking at
MARK 8 during
2015 visit..

Here is a blog about the Altair 8800 SN414 and John's 1995 visit. 

Video of Altair 8800 SN414 in operation tested by Wen Heagy.

John describes his visit to the  Computer Museum in his own words 1995

Chicago downtown from
John's Cirrus aircraft.

Just received (3/30/20) this photo from John - photo  he made of the Chicago Skyline on flight to pick up one of his family members. Nice to have your own plane at this time with conoronvirus restrictions on  commercial  air travel. Great view.






Collecting historical microcomputers for more than 45 years and teaching about "Computers and Instrumentation " for 33 years at Virginia Tech has been the experience of a lifetime.  Many I have had many great times and met wonderful people during this time. You can see a few of the stories on my Blog Site.

David Larsen
 Blog Author

"by David Larsen"  Chantilly Farm owner, Computer Historian, and amateur radio operator -KK4WW   & N4USA .  I work out of one of the Tiny Homes at Chantilly Farm. A great place to work if you like the to be out in nature. I am 81 and ready to sell Chantilly Farm - I have a few more  projects I would like to do - if you have an interest to know more give me a call. 540 392 2392

Computer collecting heyday for historical microcomputers 1985 - 1999

Altair 8800 microcomputer- January 1975

Bugbooks

I am fortunate to have been collecting historical microcomputers from the very first day they were available. I was not thinking at the time how nice this would be 44 years later.  Obtaining them from the original purchasers was a hayday in the years 1985 to 1999. During this hayday period many owners of these early computers had their first computer stored in the closet or basement and had not used it for years. 

These early owners were pioneers in many ways and they had their heart and sole in their first computer. They often paid what the wife considered a lot of money for a toy that could do very little or in fact nothing useful to the family. Remember prior to the microcomputers a minicomputers cost from $10,000 to $30,000 and was not possible to own one for most individuals. That was the price of a small house in the 1960s .The early users of  these machines invested a lot of time and money and wanted to have someone  preserve their computer. 

I placed a small wanted advertisement in several electronic publications for 35 or more years. hundreds or really their were thousands of responses to my request "Wanted pre1980 microcomputers for historical collection" . Most of my collection was acquired during this time including the 4 original Apple-1 computers in the collection. 

 I recorded all the phone calls in log books and kept all the letters with offers. Looking though some of these letters in the past few days I found them very interesting and decided to share several.  Most people thought I had lost my senses for collecting these unwanted computers however it was great fun for me.  A very big part of the fun was the hunt to find a new computer.

 Sometimes I would wait months or even years before working toward getting the computer offered. You will see this in the letter below taking 5 years between first contact and receiving the computer.
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To read CLICK on the letter to enlarge

First letter September 29,1990 about the Altair #21

This inquiry letter from Dean was received in 1990 and it was 5 years later I ask dean if he still had the computer. This resulted in my very best Altair 8800 ( Serial Number 21) . When I received the first letter in 1990 I already had a number of the Altair 8800 computers and did not think too much about adding one more.  





To read click on image 

January 10,1995 letter ready to send the Altair 8800

Five years after the first letter I began to understand that the computers with low serial numbers were much more desirable for a collector and remembered the offer for the Altair 8800 serial number 21. To my surprise and pleasure Dean still had the Altair and was glad to work out a deal for me to add it to my collection.


    The receipt for the Altair is dated December 17,1974. This is the month before the computer was announced in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics. This has to be the very first batch of  Altair computers. The CPU card in the computer is serial number 10.


I loved this part in the letter "The first program I ran was a music program which used an AM radio to pick up bus signals so that music would come out of the speaker. My wife was politely interested." I seem to remember that this music technique was one of the early programs to run on a PDP-1 minicomputer in the early 60's. 

Video of Altair 8800 SN 21 "CLICK" a real good look at this computer
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Apple-1 computer offer from Craig Solomonson

Here was a great offer in July 1996 of an Apple-1 from Craig Solomonson. The offer was for more than $15,000 but less then $40,000.  It was a bit short sited of me not to purchase this computer - here is the history of this computer.

Purchased from Frank Anderson, an electronic dealer in Great Falls, Montana by Craig Solomonson for MECC.  Craig reports that this computer was sold by Jobs and shipped from his parents address. Woz seemed a bit confused when Craig showed him the invoice and asked about it. He said "Not sold by us, although Job's may have sold it without telling me." 

• Sold by Craig to Jesse Sackman in California
• $50,000 unit sold in Ebay auction 320447681957, late in 2009
• This is the unit auctioned by Christies in London for 133,250 pounds in November of 2010 to Italian businessman and private collector Marco Boglione
• Marco continues to have this computer in his collection. 

However this was not the only offer I received for an Apple-1 computer. I had about 10 offers during this period and did purchase 4 Apple-1's - see this for the story of the four Apple-1's.
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Letter from Jim Trent N3EGE September 1996

Here is a letter from Jim Trent who had been seeing my advertisement in "World Radio" and other publications.

His wife was very glad he found my advertisement now he could get rid of all that old stuff and not have it tossed out in the junk. 

I seem to remember getting all his items for the historical collection.










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Post card from Tim Walker N2GIG

Sometimes I would get a simple card like this one from Tim Walker N2GIG.













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Macintosh Computer

Current Steve Jobs Movie "News": Aaron Sorkin on Steve Jobs, Facebook, and why he ignored the iPhone





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David Larsen

I am glad I saved all these letters offering computers as many of them are humorous and often include interesting stories about the owner. I think an interesting book could be written from the stories told by these letters from early microcomputer users.  Thank you for reading my blog and have a wonderful holiday season for 2015. Dave

.^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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Computer Museum - Visiting the Museum - Floyd Virginia

info click

It is always a pleasure to have fellow computer collectors visit the museum and learn about their  collections. Malcolm Macleod  (visited 4-29-15) from Australia and has a  serious collection of computers. We had a wonderful time talking about the history of early microcomputers.

I have moved my entire collection and museum displays to the Computer Museum of America. However please do come by Floyd, Va for a visit. I am still here and have office in town and other projects  in our wonderful Blue Ridge Mountain town. 


Click on photo's to enlarge

David Larsen & Malcolm Macleod

Comments about museum by Malcolm - short video 

David Larsen,museum curator and Malcolm Macleod, historical computer collector from Australia in front of "Bugbook Historical Microcomputer Museum" story board.

David & Malcolm at Apple-1 display

Malcolm and David at Apple-1 display and calculator display on the right. Museum has 19 display cases - more than 350 items on display.

Museum warehouse ALTAIR 8800's

In addition to the museum Malcolm and I  spent a lot of time looking thought the museum warehouse. Malcolm in warehouse at IMSAI and ALTAIR area.

Malcolm added to his collection while at our museum and filled his suit case with a microcomputer - The

Micro 68 a 1976 microcomputer made by "Electronic Product Associate, Lamont Wood's book about Datapoint , 8080 Octal Code Card , Bugbooks 3, 4 and 5.

Museum warehouse Lisa computers

Malcolm at Apple area with Lisa computers. A lot of Apple computers including original Apple-1 (This is not in warehouse - stored at the Bank in Vault)





Click Photo's to enlarge 

Lisa computer in original box warehouse view

Malcolm in warehouse next to Lisa computer in original box and view of storage shelves with inventoried microcomputer memorabilia. Several Lisa computers and 2 are in their original box.





Malcolm added to his collection while at our museum and filled his suit case with a microcomputer -

Micro 68 a 1976 microcomputer made by "Electronic Product Associate, Lamont Wood's book about Datapoint , 8080 Octal Code Card , Bugbooks 3, 4 and 5.

Malcolm took in lots of computer history during his US visit in addition to our museum he attended  the  "Vintage Compute Festival" - East 10 ( Wall, NJ 4-17/19-15) and "Vintage Computer Festival"- Southeast  3 ( Roswell, GA 5-3-15). Malcolm commented  "VCF Southeast was a lot of fun" & "I’ve managed to get some goods tips for getting my PDP-8’s up and running".

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One of our 19 displays in the museum.
Click on photo to enlarge 

Display case #8

More reason to visit our museum in Floyd, VA
Content - ALTAIR 8800, ALTAIR 680, Exact copy of MARK-8 in the Smithsonian Museum, Commodore PET, TSR80-1, original copy of "Popular Electronics" 1-1-75 (ALTAIR 8800 article), Wooden Case from my original Apple-1, Original ALTAIR brochure, First IBM PC,Lots of small memorabilia and much more.

Curator David Larsen describes content of case 8 Audio "CLICK"

Small memorabilia in Case #8

This is close up of small memorabilia in Case #8.








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David Larsen

I hope you take the time to visit the museum and out wonderful Blue Ridge Mountain area of Floyd County Virginia. Floyd is loaded with Appalachian culture, mountain music and art,42 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Chantilly Festival Farm and a whole lot more. Floyd is a very popular destination on Virginia's "Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail".  See you in FLoyd !!!

           .^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian} 

Altair 8800 Computer for sale

The computer has been sold - thank you to all that inquired about this Altair. 

info click

MITS ALTAIR 8800 computer for  Sale. This computer has been restored to working order by Win Heagy. Win has been a vintage computer collector for years and has restored many old computers including an original Digital Equipment PDP-8 minicomputer (PDP-8 work is still in progress). The ALTAIR 8800 is in nice condition and displays very nicely. I have posted many photo's below to show various aspects of the computer and the documentation that comes with the 8800. It is nice to have this computer operational and ready for a new home after resting in our museum warehouse for more then 25 years.

The computer serial number is 220414K and I believe the numbering started at 220000 --- that would make this number 414 in order of production. The K at the end of the serial number indicates that the computer was sold as a kit and it was up to the purchaser to assemble and test the product. The low serial number would put the computer in the first month or two of production by Ed Roberts "MITS" company --- a nice early ALTAIR 8800 computer.

Video of computer in various modes of operation "CLICK".

Contact me here for purchase or more information.

An ALTAIR 8800 sold today on Ebay for $9001 and a few weeks ago one sold for about $10,000. If mine does not sell soon I will remove it for sale and put it on Ebay. 4-12-15 - Checking the Ebay sale -- it did not make the reserve price so hi bid was $9001 but no sale.

Click on photo's to enlarge

Altair 8800

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This card  has a serial # on the card of 0456K.

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

This card has a serial number of 0457K.

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Altair 8800

Win Heagy and his PDP-8 computer 

Here is Win Heagy picking up his PDP-8 at our computer warehouse.


More info about Win's PDP-8 "CLICK"





Here are some comments about the ALTAIR 8800 computer by Win Heagy.

1. Runs warm with the cover on.  If you plan to use it for extended
periods of time, consider installing a fan.
2. Some small dings and marks on the exterior, as is to be expected in
a 35+ year old machine.
3. In order to modify the original hardware as little as possible, an
extension cable was made for the original 2SIO serial cable.  A large
piece of white heat shrink tubing covers the DB25 connectors of this
extension cable and the original cable.  This extension can be removed
or reworked as desired.
4. The 4K RAM card was used for loading 4K BASIC in the video.
5. The MITS 1K Static RAM card was not extensively tested.  The RAM
test routine I have did not seem to work properly on this card.
However, as is seen in the video, I toggled in the “Kill the Bit”
program from the front panel using this card as the RAM card and it
works.  The RAM chips are soldered on this board.
6. Most of the documentation included with the system is not original.
Most of the manuals and other documentation is available online.
7. The 2SIO card is picky.  Be sure to use a good quality USB->Serial
adapter - or a real serial port on a PC.  The 2SIO expects serial
level voltages and some adapters cheat a little.  I had four different
adapters and only one worked.
8. A second serial cable/connector is included for the second port on
the 2SIO card.  This cable and port was not tested.

David Larsen

I am selling this and other duplicate computers from the collection to help pay the rent in the commercial rented space used by our museum. We try to have the museum open regular hours and have paid help as assistant curators in the museum. We live in a very rural area of the Blue Ridge mountains and not many retro computer folks to volunteer in the museum. Our little town of Floyd, Virginia only has a population of about 400. The county population is small and we are in a beautiful place with 42 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway as our Eastern boundary. The county is agriculture based and is known for it wonderful mountain music and many very creative artisans. 

           .^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}