🤟🏼 😃 🅰️ Altair 8800: a short story about a great computer 📟 🛷 🙍🏽

The world of computer technology is large and diverse. In the 60 plus years that have passed since the first monstrous computers appeared, there have been many big and small discoveries. Computers moved from the turbine rooms of scientific institutes, first to the offices of large companies, and then to the desks of ordinary users.

Today we're going to talk about a truly iconic car, the Altair 8800, and its creator. This computer was able to prove to the whole world: the future belongs to devices based on microprocessors.

Compared to its predecessor, the first "microchip" computer Micral, the Altair has proven to be an extremely successful product in the market. Its creator, Ed Roberts, assumed that he would only be able to sell a couple of hundred cars, and even then only to enthusiasts. However, in the first month, several thousand computers were sold.

Computers were sold in those years through the mail: the company advertised in Popular Electronics and other special publications, and buyers were invited to send a letter with an order to the specified address. Both fully assembled units and assembly kits were available for purchase.