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Interior mostly modified Altair 8800 spotted on ebay.

L

leiy

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2014
Messages
247
This one is severely modified.

There has a nice 88 2 SIO rev 0 board in the case. I still have no 88 2 SIO board in collection.

The back of this Altair also drilled.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331462324818?

Seems in none working condition.
 
Last edited:
I just ordered an Altairclone computer, to take the full experience of Altair.
 
leiy said:
This one is severely modified.

There has a nice 88 2 SIO rev 0 board in the case. I still have no 88 2 SIO board in collection.

The back of this Altair also drilled.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331462324818?

Seems in none working condition.
Click to expand...

The machine started out as an 8800A I think, the serial number sticker is missing also. I think the only thing Rev-0 is the 2SIO, which is a later card that was released well after the Rev-0 Atair. at one point it had a cassette board set also since the wiring is there. I think this seller purposely wrote their title to try to trick someone into buying the machine.
 
Corey986 said:
The machine started out as an 8800A I think, the serial number sticker is missing also. I think the only thing Rev-0 is the 2SIO, which is a later card that was released well after the Rev-0 Atair. at one point it had a cassette board set also since the wiring is there. I think this seller purposely wrote their title to try to trick someone into buying the machine.
Click to expand...

What are the telltale signs of an 8800a?
 
http://www.vintage-computer.com/altair8800a.shtml

One of the big weak points in the early Altair was the motherboards. 4slot Rev-0 were too thin, rev-1 still sucked so companies like processor tech created 18 slot single piece motherboards. So MITS did the same and made the A model. This one on eBay looks like a MITS large motherboard. The PT one had terminators and different card guides. This one looks like it has MITS card guides, another weak point as they break easily.

Then MITS fixed the other major weak point the power supply in the "B" model among other things.

Cheers,
Corey
 
While I usually defer to Corey for his expertise, this example is actually an early 8800 with an upgraded backplane and added fan. Tell-tale signs include the "straight line" graphic on the front panel and the black capacitors (that looks like D cell batteries) on the inside.
 
Corey986 said:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/altair8800a.shtml

One of the big weak points in the early Altair was the motherboards. 4slot Rev-0 were too thin, rev-1 still sucked so companies like processor tech created 18 slot single piece motherboards. So MITS did the same and made the A model. This one on eBay looks like a MITS large motherboard. The PT one had terminators and different card guides. This one looks like it has MITS card guides, another weak point as they break easily.

Then MITS fixed the other major weak point the power supply in the "B" model among other things.

Cheers,
Corey
Click to expand...

Hmm, I think the motherboard is from Jade Computer Products, if you look closely at the pics you can make out most of the logo. The card guides also aren't screwed directly to the board like they were on the MITS board, and the front panel connections appear to be soldered to that small board with the resistors. I still wouldn't be suprised if this is a rebadged 8800a though.
 
OK, finally got to a computer with a big screen. Yep, this is obviously not a MITS motherboard, should have noticed it earlier. Interesting how the MITS card edge guides are used. Looks like they drilled the chassis to attach them. So this was either a rev-0 or rev-1 machine but that has been "upgraded" back in the day.

Cheers,
Corey
 
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