website/content/museum/mits-altair-680.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
MITS Altair 680	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1975	Motorola 6800	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware links oc_id source Altair 680 /media/museum/photos/mits_altair680_frontpanel_1.jpg /companies/mits MITS label value NAME Altair 680 label value MANUFACTURER MITS label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR October 1975 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD 27 address, data and control switches label value CPU Motorola 6800 label value SPEED 500 KHz. label value CO-PROCESSOR None label value RAM 1 KB label value ROM 1 KB label value TEXT MODES Depends on the video terminal used label value SIZE / WEIGHT 28 (W) x 28 (D) x 12 (H) cm. label value I/O PORTS Serial port label value BUILT IN MEDIA None in basic version label value POWER SUPPLY Built_in power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS Memory board, I/O board label value PRICE Kit form: about $300, assembled: $420 photos adverts hardware links 872 title subtitle text image SYSTEM /media/museum/photos/mits_altair680_system_1.jpg title subtitle text image BACK SIDE Basic version only featured one serial connector. /media/museum/photos/mits_altair680_back_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE /media/museum/photos/mits_altair-680_inside.jpg title subtitle text image FRONT /media/museum/photos/mits_altair-680_front_2.jpg title subtitle text image POPULAR ELECTRONICS The November 1975 issue of Popular Electronics showed a first version of the Altair 680 and explained in an article how to build it. /media/museum/photos/mits_altair680_popularelectronics_1.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT (JAN. 1976) from Creative Computing magazine dated january 1976 /media/museum/pubs/mits_altair680_pub-creative-computing-janv1976.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT (SEPT. 1976) null title subtitle text image US ADVERT (JAN. 1977) for the 680B and 8800B models null title subtitle text image ALTAIR MINIDISK #1 The Altair Minidisk was released in June 1977, one month after MITS was sold to Pertec. It was probably the first 5.25" floppy drive unit intended for a home computer. /media/museum/hardware/mits_altair680_minidisc_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ALTAIR MINIDISK #2 The floppy disk drive was a Shugard SA400, single side, single density, 110 KB of maximum capacity. The first 5.25" drive ever manufactured. /media/museum/hardware/mits_altair680_minidisc_s2.jpg title url text VirtualAltair http://www.virtualaltair.com/ The Virtual Altair Museum is collecting information and components to help preserve Altair history. 892 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230131010751/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=892 2023-01-31

The Altair 680 appeared about one year after the successful Altair 8800 was launched. With this model, MITS attempted to offer a new system based on the well known Motorola 6800 processor and then cover a large market share in small computer business.

The computer was available in kit or assembled form, It was smaller than the 8800 but kept the same design of front panel and switches. It featured 1 KB of RAM (4 times the 8800 RAM) and 1 KB of ROM with support for a serial terminal and punch tape reader.

For $420, customer got an assembled system with no display and no mass storage devices. program had to be entered each time the system was switched on using binary address and data switches. At power off, all of the RAM content was definitly lost. In fact, in order to get a really usable system with terminal or Teletype and tape or floppy disc storage, user had to invest about $2000, a fortune at the time.

First available programming language was the BASIC 2.0 the young Micro-Soft company ported from the Intel 8080 to the 6800.

As the Altair 680 wasn't the first and cheaper 6800 based system, it didn't meet a great success. It was followed by the 680B and the 680B Turnkey where all front panel switches were replaced with an unique power key.