MITS Altair computers

Published June 3, 2023
Contributed by Ben Zotto


Source: www.si.edu Smithsonian Institute. License: All Rights Reserved.

Altair 8800 Computer





From Wikipedia:

Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) was an American electronics company founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico that began manufacturing electronic calculators in 1971 and personal computers in 1975.

The Altair 8800 is generally credited with being the first broadly available microcomputer system. It debuted on the cover of Popular Electronics magazine in January of 1975 (albeit in the form of a prototype with a different nameplate in Microgramma), and was available in kit or assembled form, across different model variations, over the subsequent two years. The brand nameplate for the Altair 8800 and also the Altair 680 used the Tuxedo typeface, as did some of the accompanying documentation.




Photo: Ben Zotto. License: CC BY.

Cover of the documentation for the Altair Computer System




Source: www.flickr.com Frank Grießhammer. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

The front panel of an Altair 8800 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California




Source: www.flickr.com Frank Grießhammer. License: CC BY-NC-SA.

The labeling for switches and lights on the front panel appears to be in Helvetica. The slight rounding of the letterforms is probably due to the application process.




Source: commons.wikimedia.org LunchboxLarry. License: CC BY.

The Altair 680 was announced in November 1975 and shipped in May 1976. “MITS” is in outlined Helvetica.



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