Altair 680

[Mike Markowski]

I went to the Kennett Classic computer museum in Kennett Square, PA, a town a few miles from me.  One of the items on display is an Altair 680, which I hadn't heard of.  I thought I'd share a photo and with any luck, some list members have stories to share.  The tag on it says it is difficult to use compared to the 8800.

Thanks,
Mike Markowski, ab3ap

[Charley Jones]

Never fails to amaze me how many off models came out.  If you want a wild read, read the book Hackers, of the early days at Digital and MIT. 

Sent from my iPhone 12pm!

Charley Jones, PMP

On Feb 24, 2023, at 11:53 AM, Mike Markowski <mike....@gmail.com> wrote:

 I went to the Kennett Classic computer museum in Kennett Square, PA, a town a few miles from me.  One of the items on display is an Altair 680, which I hadn't heard of.  I thought I'd share a photo and with any luck, some list members have stories to share.  The tag on it says it is difficult to use compared to the 8800.

Thanks,
Mike Markowski, ab3ap

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<mits680.jpg>

[Chris Davis]

I have an empty 680 case I bought off eBay a couple years ago.  I've always wanted to make an Arduino-based version of the 680.  I have a basic implementation of the 6800 processor for the Due.

However I'd probably have to get access to a working 680 to finish the emulation.

[Tom Brusehaver]

I completely agree, the book "Hackers" is a must read for anyone who is into retro computers.

"Fire in the Valley" use another one. It includes the Altair.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/altair-duino/f0b3c952-53d1-403c-907f-1d8fbf6de988n%40googlegroups.com.

[Al Williams]

I remember when these appeared in popular electronics and they were slightly cheaper than the real Altair although in those days either one of them might as well have been a million dollars for me. I persuaded my parents to let me call MITS and ask them if it was the same as the Altair or if it required different software. And of course the answer was it required different software cuz it was a 6800 in it. I lost interest at that point. Although oddly enough, I went on to work for Motorola and debugged the descendants of the 6800 including the 6805, the 68 HC11 and a bunch of 68000 chips. 

I never got the idea that many of these were sold.

--

[Tom Brusehaver]

I went looking for the total sold, but instead found this:

http://www.altair680kit.com/

Last update to the page was in 2007, I don't know if the kits are available still.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/altair-duino/CA%2BOHcDtCU_VV__PUvk6Pwe4ZZHvSkydk6JreOky8Y14QZWM0og%40mail.gmail.com.

[Chris Davis]

No, Grant's kits haven't been available for 15 years.  I don't know why he keeps the site up, but I'm glad he does.  There's lots of great info there.

[udo....@freenet.de]

famousd...@gmail.com schrieb am Freitag, 24. Februar 2023 um 22:11:43 UTC+1:

However I'd probably have to get access to a working 680 to finish the emulation.

I never ever had access to a real Altair 8800, IMSAI 8080 or Cromemco Z-1, the emulations were written by studying the manuals.

There have been very few questions I could not figure from the manuals, which were answered by people with a real machine.

Even nowadays I only have an IMSAI 8080esp, also running z80pack, because Dave insisted that I have one.

Having access to a real machine might help with a few things, but is not really required.

[Mike Douglas]

Here’s a link to the playlist for the Altair 680 series on my YouTube channel. The first video is relatively short (for my typical over-explanation of things) and gives a quick introduction to the 680.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB3mwSROoJ4IFLINFplgHvBq-J5P4VfnE

Mike

[Chris Davis]

Thanks Mike, those are great.  I've only watched the first and I already know more than I ever used to!

[Ricky Bryce]

That looks like a neat machine!  Just in case any one has not stumbled across this resource, Deramp has some hardware manuals and software for the 680.

https://deramp.com/downloads/altair/

You will find a 680 folder under both the hardware and software categories.   The hardware section has schematics, operator manual, programming manual, theory of operation, etc.

Thanks for sharing!

[Tom Lake]

The tag couldn't have been more wrong! For one, you could plug in a terminal and start entering machine language programs right away without having to spend hundreds more dollars for interfaces. You could turn it on and it would come right up in the monitor. No need to key in an octal program to load BASIC. The biggest difference, for me anyway was that 6800 assembly language was so much easier than that of the 8080. There were fewer instructions to memorize and they were easier to understand. If you want a great, practical view of a 6800 system, read all the articles about the SWTPC 6800 in Kilobaud Magazine by Peter Stark. He was to the 6800 what Jim Butterfield was to Commodore 6502 systems. Kilobaud was a great magazine for the 8800 systems, too. Byte and Kilobaud were practically required reading in the '70s and '80s for microcomputer users.

https://archive.org/search?query=kilobaud%20magazine

[George W4AVO]

It's good to see interest in the "little" Altair!

I bought my MITS 680b in kit form in 1977. The standard config was 1k ram and an ACIA serial
port. I added a 16k ram expansion, an expansion I/O board, and a second 1702A eprom. Included
software was the eprom monitor, an editor/assembler, and 16k BASIC.

If someone (Adwater&Stir?) wants to do a MITS680b replica along the lines of the Altair-Duino
I'll buy one. Also if I can be of help, count me in.

Here is a pix of my 680 and its companion ADM3A running the eprom monitor program.

George

On Friday, February 24, 2023 at 2:53:14 PM UTC-5 mike....@gmail.com wrote:

[Charley Jones]

Beautiful blast from the past.  I cut my teeth on Z80 and 6502.  Later did the jump to 8080.  Worked for the military and did work in AN/BSY-2 for the AN/UYK-7.  Now that was a seriously amazing CPU. 

Sent from my iPhone 12pm!

Charley Jones, PMP

On Mar 2, 2023, at 10:16 AM, George W4AVO <geo...@w4avo.org> wrote:

It's good to see interest in the "little" Altair!

I bought my MITS 680b in kit form in 1977. The standard config was 1k ram and an ACIA serial
port. I added a 16k ram expansion, an expansion I/O board, and a second 1702A eprom. Included
software was the eprom monitor, an editor/assembler, and 16k BASIC.

If someone (Adwater&Stir?) wants to do a MITS680b replica along the lines of the Altair-Duino
I'll buy one. Also if I can be of help, count me in.

Here is a pix of my 680 and its companion ADM3A running the eprom monitor program.

George

<mits680.jpg>

On Friday, February 24, 2023 at 2:53:14 PM UTC-5 mike....@gmail.com wrote:

I went to the Kennett Classic computer museum in Kennett Square, PA, a town a few miles from me.  One of the items on display is an Altair 680, which I hadn't heard of.  I thought I'd share a photo and with any luck, some list members have stories to share.  The tag on it says it is difficult to use compared to the 8800.

Thanks,
Mike Markowski, ab3ap

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<mits680.jpg>

[John Kennedy]

I guess first things first - is there a bare-metal microcontroller emulator for the 680?

[Tom Wilson]

Here are some 6800 emulators, which could be adapted. I found two written in C:

https://github.com/jhallen/exorsim

https://www.torok.info/computing/SWTPC/index.htm Runs on the Due and would probably require the least modification.

Tom Wilson
wils...@gmail.com
(619)940-6311 

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[Tom Brusehaver]

I've often wondered how many of these kits are still unassembled or partially assembled in people's basements.

I get barn find cars, everyone knows what a cars is, they haven't changed much in the last 120 years.

Computers have significantly changed in the last 40 years. People cleaning up estate sales and such may look at a box of parts like this and have no idea what it is. 

Just rambling.

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[Tom Wilson]

True this. I fully expect that when I pass, my kid will hold a yard sale with my computer equipment. Someone will buy my MiSTer rig, thinking they're getting some kind of PC, since it's mounted in a micro ATX case....

Tom Wilson
wils...@gmail.com
(619)940-6311 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/altair-duino/CADvB8F7TQ6Xj5ogxzp_DQdsD5yEGuU5uCXLRm82BNn9evFMreA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Charley Jones]

I think that’s in store for all of us.

I had a dead guitar, the neck was too far out of alignment to be straightened.  So I signed it as Eric Clapton and hung it as my decoy.  If someone bumps me off for it, they are going to be really disappointed. 

Sent from my iPhone 12pm!

Charley Jones, PMP

On Mar 2, 2023, at 12:12 PM, Tom Wilson <wils...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

The TINY BASIC in the SWTPC 6800 emulator doesn't do basic math correctly.  Sad, because I wanted to make a little almost pocket size computer that I'd 3D print to look like the SWTPC 600.  

I did play with the emulator a little, I think I still have it on a DUE CH340 ... collecting dust since the DUE CH340 doesn't work for the Altair-Duino.  

.

[Del Rey Custom Shop]

Hey too bad that woulda been cool, Walt.

Jon Green

On Mar 2, 2023, at 2:42 PM, Walt Perko <r4r...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/altair-duino/a126325d-a25f-4a48-8b1e-941ba1454b0an%40googlegroups.com.

[Charley Jones]

Maybe someone could fix that 50 year old mistake and get basic to calculate right ?

Sent from my iPhone 12pm!

Charley Jones, PMP

On Mar 3, 2023, at 4:30 PM, Del Rey Custom Shop <delreycu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey too bad that woulda been cool, Walt.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/altair-duino/7CE56538-D50B-4179-9958-BFD2CC076A9C%40gmail.com.

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

The SWTPC 6800 emUlator is not 50-years old,  I compared the same exact Tiny BASIC program with a real Alair 680 computer and the real compu ter does the math correctly.  When the SWTPC 6800 emulator was written,it was never fully tested for bugs and  I guess the guy gave up.  That's where the problem lies.  

.