Re: [vcf-midatlantic] MITS Altair 8800 C&K switches
My apologies for all the fuss. Again: who knew this was difficult?
Jeff Galinat writes:
According to Mike Douglas AKA deramp .. the American Switch brand was used in the original Altair not C & K.
S1 Toggle Switch On-None-On (Silver) APEM 5236AB S10-S25 Toggle Switch On-None-On (Gold) APEM 5236CDB S2-S9 Toggle Switch (On)-Off-(On) (Gold) APEM 5237CDB
Take this as you wish but I do value Mike's opinion on this
Um, I also saw this information 1) in the VCFed discussion list referenced earlier in this thread and 2) on notes it referenced on the deramp site, about a MITS Altair front-panel replica. But... But: those references to a replica, have confused me, as to whether the original Altair switches were of that brand; or if these identified switches are reasonable replacements; or if these are for the replica. Pardon my confusion. Also: in my most-prior post here, I acknowledge I *do not know* what brand was in-use. My error, to suggest C&K. That's why I'm asking. Again: proof beyond doubt, would be a photo of an original switch, in place, on an original front panel. Such a photo seems to be surprisingly hard to produce, hard to find. I certainly don't want to disassemble my MITS Altair just to take an internal photo. And my apologies, this is not a "personal trust" issue. I appreciate the identifications given, it's a "lead". My request for evidence is not unreasonable. I'm surprised it's so obscure! At least in year 2020. I've seen BUNCHES of photos of lots of MITS boards. But not of the original front panel, in profile. I'll be sure to provide those, should I tear my Altair apart. (No it's not for sale). Regards, Herb -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info
Again: proof beyond doubt, would be a photo of an original switch, in place, on an original front panel. Such a photo seems to be surprisingly hard to produce, hard to find. I certainly don't want to disassemble my MITS Altair just to take an internal photo.
And my apologies, this is not a "personal trust" issue. I appreciate the identifications given, it's a "lead". My request for evidence is not unreasonable. I'm surprised it's so obscure! At least in year 2020. I've seen BUNCHES of photos of lots of MITS boards. But not of the original front panel, in profile. I'll be sure to provide those, should I tear my Altair apart. (No it's not for sale).
Regards, Herb
Herb, I don't really feel like taking apart the front panel, but here is the switch from the back of the 680, which I presume is the same as the front panel switches of the same system, and likely the same as the 8800 model: http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/680/index.cfm?sort=datelastmodified&order=DE... (first three pics if you sort by date descending) Bill
Q. State the four divisions of a COBOL program and what is the purpose of each On Tue, Apr 14, 2020 at 8:42 AM Christian Liendo via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
https://www.inputmag.com/tech/ibm-will-offer-free-cobol-training-to-address-...
Bill Degnan provides these photos of various MITS front-panel switches, on his site, including some new ones. Thanks, Bill Degnan, for the effort past and present. http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/680/MITS_Altair_round-switch2.jpg http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800a/MITS_Altair8800a_switchSA0_broken.jpg https://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800a/MITS_Altair8800a_bare-front-panel.jpg http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800b/MITS_Altair-8800b_DC-BD.JPG http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800b-t_3/MITS_8800b-t_front-panel-removed.j... For MITS 680, 8800a, 8800b, 8800b-t. These identify the brand as American and various models. Of those the 680 has the round toggle lever, the others have the flat-triangular toggle. That's pretty good evidence for the 8800's switches which would have the round toggle lever. I found elsewhere an 8800 naked front-panel photo; but it's head-on and all one can see is the tops of the switches. Bill says "Herb, I don't really feel like taking apart the front panel ..". I don't blame you, Bill. There's few photos of the MITS front panel PC board front, because every threaded switch usually has a nut. Also it's probably hard-to-fit to put the cover panel back on. The value of a clean front-panel is - what? - hundreds of dollars? Leave it alone, is prudent. Regards, Herb Johnson -- Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey in the USA http://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com or try later herbjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT info
On Wed, Apr 15, 2020 at 1:58 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Bill Degnan provides these photos of various MITS front-panel switches, on his site, including some new ones. Thanks, Bill Degnan, for the effort past and present.
http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/680/MITS_Altair_round-switch2.jpg
http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800a/MITS_Altair8800a_switchSA0_broken.jpg
https://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800a/MITS_Altair8800a_bare-front-panel.jpg
http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800b/MITS_Altair-8800b_DC-BD.JPG
http://vintagecomputer.net/MITS/8800b-t_3/MITS_8800b-t_front-panel-removed.j...
For MITS 680, 8800a, 8800b, 8800b-t. These identify the brand as American and various models. Of those the 680 has the round toggle lever, the others have the flat-triangular toggle. That's pretty good evidence for the 8800's switches which would have the round toggle lever.
I found elsewhere an 8800 naked front-panel photo; but it's head-on and all one can see is the tops of the switches.
Bill says "Herb, I don't really feel like taking apart the front panel ..". I don't blame you, Bill. There's few photos of the MITS front panel PC board front, because every threaded switch usually has a nut. Also it's probably hard-to-fit to put the cover panel back on. The value of a clean front-panel is - what? - hundreds of dollars? Leave it alone, is prudent.
Regards, Herb Johnson
Recent research implies (but I can't prove outright) that American maintained the same switch part number when they made an "improved" flat version of the ST1-1 switch, around 1976, which appears when they stopped making the round versions.
participants (3)
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Bill Degnan -
Christian Liendo -
Herb Johnson