For those Restoring an Old Altair 8800 Computer ...

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

I came up with this little S-100 board:  

The Altair 8800 front panel has a bunch of wires that normally are connected directly to the S-100 backplane.  The numbering on the front panel is the same on this little adapter board making it quick 'n easy to solder up and allow easier access to work on the front panel or the backplane as needed.  

This board only carries the front panel wires to keep it very simple.  

I'll be posting the Gerber files on my website soon as I verify everything is as it should be.  

.

[John Crane]

On 4/18/26 12:28 AM, Walt Perko wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I came up with this little S-100 board:
>

Great work Walt!

After half a century - finally some sanity!

-J

[Walt Perko]

Hi,  

I think I have a board ready for prime time now.  I gotta say, it gets difficult to get all the connections going to the correct places, and this design uses a ton of vias but gets everything connected where they need to go.  

Look at the top of the edge connectors ... traces had to jumper around to the sides in a few places.  

.

[Patrick Linstruth]

Mike D give me the tip to have front tracks go horizontal and the back tracks vertical (or vice versa).

It works well. Much better than the autorouter.

I think we were talking about designing boards on a Zoom call and came to conclusion that the schematic is easy compared to the PCB layout.

It really takes a lot of time to put the components in the right place and optimize the pin connections.

Here’s an example of tracks using that system. I can be optimized much better, but there’s only so many hours in the day and need to make sure it actually works.

On Apr 23, 2026, at 1:43 PM, Walt Perko <r4r...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,  

I think I have a board ready for prime time now.  I gotta say, it gets difficult to get all the connections going to the correct places, and this design uses a ton of vias but gets everything connected where they need to go.  

Look at the top of the edge connectors ... traces had to jumper around to the sides in a few places.  

<BreakOutBoard-01.jpg>

.

On Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 7:16:37 PM UTC-7 john_c...@yahoo.com wrote:

On 4/18/26 12:28 AM, Walt Perko wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I came up with this little S-100 board:
>

Great work Walt!

After half a century - finally some sanity!

-J

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<BreakOutBoard-01.jpg>