• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Altair 8800 clone - cost to build?

compaqportableplus

compaqportableplus

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
1,044
Location
USA
I’v always wanted an Altair 8800, but they are quite expensive these days.

What would the final cost be to build a proper clone? I saw a video of one on YouTube, and it looked spot-on.

I’m talking about building a full-sized clone with real S-100 boards, as anything else seems pointless to me. I want to be able to use expansion boards with it just like you would on a real Altair.

This is just something I’m considering. If the final cost is reasonable, I’ll most certainly build one though.
 
I'm just speaking from memory, but when I was looking at it, it was around 1K for the things I was planning on putting into it. I still love to put one together as projects allow at some point.
 
alank2 said:
I'm just speaking from memory, but when I was looking at it, it was around 1K for the things I was planning on putting into it. I still love to put one together as projects allow at some point.
Click to expand...

Wow, that much, huh? I get that it’s less than a real one, but I was hoping it’d be well under $1,000.
 
I recently did exactly what I think you are asking about. I started with my existing Altair Clone, taking out the insides to obtain the cabinet.

Then:

Altair replica Front Panel bare boards, 16 address switches, 8 momentary switches, 1 power switch from Mike Douglas = $171.00 (including shipping)

Parts for FP boards from Digikey, Jameco, & Mouser = $40.44, $26.25, $12.25, $20.00 (including shipping)

Power supplies from Digikey = $67.60 (including shipping)

88-2SIOJP board from Martin Eberhard = $135.00 (including shipping)

N8VEM 9 slot Backplane board & 9 S-100 connectors from Todd Goodman = $111.93 (including shipping)

Altair replica CPU board eBay purchase = $155.00 (including shipping)

Altair FDC+ board from Mike Douglas = $166.00 (including shipping)

That all adds up to $905.47.

Since I already had the cabinet, there was "no cost" for that. If you have to purchase it, I believe it goes for $300.00 plus shipping from Mike Douglas.

And, of course, there were some more odds & ends, like a couple of serial I/O cables for $15.96 (including shipping). And, I already had the 8 inch dual floppy disk system to debug and attach - found that one of the drives has a problem, but I'm currently operating my system with one 8 inch floppy. And, I had to buy a box of 10 32 sector hard sector floppy disks for $49.95 (free shipping).

So, to get an operating Altair 8800c, as some folks call it, it's going to cost probably more than $1000 if you are starting from scratch.

Good luck!

smp

PS: I still have the good working insides from the Altair Clone - available for $150 plus shipping. All you need to get is the cabinet for it. :lol:
 
Last edited:
BTW, I'm thinking of selling my IMSAI chassis that I've had for nearly 20 years. It's been a good working system for me over the years, but now with my Altair 8800c, as well as my Northstar Horizon, I'm not using it very much. I guess I'll have to get some photos, and build up a reasonable description for it.

smp
 
In any case, it's far less than the cost of a real Altair back in the day. I paid $1,000 for my 8800 kit, with CPU, 2 4K DRAM boards and SIO--that was in 1975. Taking into account inflation, that would be $4,400 today. So $1K would be a real bargain.
 
Wow, you bought an Altair new? That’s awesome.

Well, I’ll still think about it. I suppose you could acquire the parts over time.
 
It was a special deal--it was "only" 1K for all of that. Consider that, at the time, the price of the 8080 CPU alone was running something like $300 Q1. Peripherals, such as a TTY were expensive.

Fortunately SWTPC came out with the TV Typewriter, which was affordable--you could cobble up an audio cassette interface (which I did) for not a whole bunch of money.

I wasn't sure if the Altair was the best deal for the money. After all, I could get a PDP-8/E system capable of running FOCAL for 'only" $5K. By the time you added peripherals for the MITS box, it was a horse race.
 
compaqportableplus said:
Wow, that much, huh? I get that it’s less than a real one, but I was hoping it’d be well under $1,000.
Click to expand...

I would love to build one of them - I think the quality is fantastic and the detail that Mike has put into it is outstanding. I can picture myself putting that bad boy together - just need to come up with the funds and time!
 
alank2 said:
I would love to build one of them - I think the quality is fantastic and the detail that Mike has put into it is outstanding. I can picture myself putting that bad boy together - just need to come up with the funds and time!
Click to expand...

I agree! They look absolutely perfect. Putting it together would be lots of fun, and you’d have a cool toy in the end! :)

I love all of the LEDs and toggle switches. I also very much like the fact that they can run CP/M (with appropriate upgrades of course).

Considering the low numbers this stuff is made in, the price really isn’t that bad. It is a little more than I thought it’d be, but for a whole replica computer it’s really not so bad.

I’m definitely still wanting to build one.
 
I was also thinking about building an Altair 8800 - I got a little confused over each of the two (main) versions that are available - Mike Douglas cleared that up for me.

There is a 'clone' which looks cosmetically like the original 8800 and functions like one but appears really to be a fairly impressive emulator.

Then there is the 8800c which again is impressively cosmetically similar to the original AND has the benefit of full S100 compatibility but making use of modern power supplies and a 'cleaned up' or simplified front panel interface connection arrangement.

It would appear that the parts are sourced from 5 or 6 different locations (most in the US as per SMC's note) . So while not terribly complex to procure and build it will take some planning and time to put together.

I'm leaning towards the 8800c myself and may just take the plunge soon.
 
Last edited:
As I understand it, however, none of the clones has interchangeable case hardware with the original. I'd like to replace my front panel, which shows some wear from toggling those switches, but I've been told that the clones do not have the same front panel.
 
Just been totting up the project cost for a UK build and its closer to £1500 - and thats after sourcing some of the fundamental parts such as power supplies, switches, backplane and misc build components locally - circa $1900 at todays exchange rate.
 
smp said:
BTW, I'm thinking of selling my IMSAI chassis that I've had for nearly 20 years. It's been a good working system for me over the years, but now with my Altair 8800c, as well as my Northstar Horizon, I'm not using it very much. I guess I'll have to get some photos, and build up a reasonable description for it.

smp
Click to expand...

I think it'd be fun to put an S-100 system in an IMSAI case. It's probably because I watched War Games, but I think that enclosure and front panel looks so cool.

Full systems seem like they can go for $2-5k though! How much were you thinking for your chassis? Is that with a front panel?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top