自己組裝第一代微型電腦元件
原文刊登日期：Dec. 19, 2011
原文擷取出處：WIRED | Randy Alfred
1974: The Altair 8800 microcomputer goes on sale. It doesn’t offer much, but it’s the small start of a big trend toward small things.
1974年12月19日，“牽牛星8800”微型電腦上市銷售。雖然它的功能並不多，但它的上市是小型化趨勢的開端。
A small New Mexico company — with the big name of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems and the small name of MITS — manufactured the Altair as a do-it-yourself kit. At its heart was the Intel 8080 microprocessor, with the remarkable capacity of 8 bits, or 1 byte. (Later models used the 8080A.)
生產“牽牛星”的只是新墨西哥的一家小公司，但名字卻一點也不“小”——微型儀器與自動測量系統公司，或簡稱MITS，這家公司把“牽牛星”設計成一個能夠自己組裝的小玩意兒。
The kit offered a 256-byte memory, just about enough to contain one sentence of text. The Altair’s open, 100-line bus structure evolved into the S-100 standard.
“牽牛星”提供256位元組的記憶體，只夠容納一句句子。它的開源、100線的匯流排結構也融入了當時的S-100標準。
Keyboard? Dream on. That was a few years in the future. Input was accomplished through the “Sense Switches” (I/O address 255), eight toggle switches on the left side of the front panel.
那鍵盤呢？做夢吧。這是幾年後的事了。輸入是通過位於前面板左側的叫做“觸覺開關(Sense Switches)”（I/O位址255）的八個彈簧開關實現的。
Display? More dreaming. Output was accomplished through LEDs on the front panel. LEDs, 1974: high tech, kiddo.
那顯示幕呢？繼續白日做夢吧。輸出是通過位於前面板上的LED燈實現的。在1974年LED燈還算是個高科技哦，親。
The Altair 8800 kit sold for just under $400 (about $1,900 in today’s money). If you wanted to forgo the case, you could get the kit for under $300. Or you could order the whole deal fully assembled: Old-Computers.com quotes a $595 price.
If you wanted to soup the thing up, MITS offered a few peripherals: a video card, a serial card for connecting to a terminal, a 64-KB RAM-expansion card and an 8-inch floppy drive. The floppies stored 300 KB each. Those were the days.
那時就是這樣子的。
MITS founder Ed Roberts got the name Altair from the stellar destination in a Star Trek episode. The idea came from the young daughter of a Popular Electronics magazine editor.
Popular Electronics heralded the amazing gadget on its January 1975 cover. Right away, orders started pouring in.
這款令人驚歎的設備登上了《大眾電子》在1975年1月份的雜誌封面。幾乎是立刻，訂單開始如潮水般湧入。
News of the Altair 8800 excited Paul Allen and Bill Gates, who wrote the first microcomputer Basic for the 8800 and, within months, went on to found Microsoft together.
“牽牛星8800”發售的消息讓 Paul Allen 和 Bill Gates 大喜過望，他們為8800編寫了首個Basic語言。幾個月後，他們既而共同創辦了微軟公司。
MITS sold more than 2,000 Altairs by the end of 1975, beyond Roberts’ wildest expectations. IMS Associates, which sold the remarkably similar IMSAI 8080 microcomputer, shipped 50 that year.
而和他們銷售類似產品IMSAI8080微型電腦的IMS聯合公司，在那年只賣出了50台。
But the Altair inspired more than knockoffs. The Commodore PET, complete with keyboard and monitor, debuted in early 1977. The Apple II came out later that year.
然而“牽牛星”同時也催生出了許多仿製品。擁有鍵盤和顯示器的 “Commodore PET” 於1977年早期首次現身。不久之後蘋果二代也出場了。
MITS sold out to Pertec in 1977. Pertec kept making Altairs through 1978.
MITS於1977年被Pertec收購。Pertec繼續生產“牽牛星”直到1978年。
Microsoft and Intel are still around. You noticed?
1974年12月19日，“牽牛星8800”微型電腦上市銷售。雖然它的功能並不多，但它的上市是小型化趨勢的開端。
A small New Mexico company — with the big name of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems and the small name of MITS — manufactured the Altair as a do-it-yourself kit. At its heart was the Intel 8080 microprocessor, with the remarkable capacity of 8 bits, or 1 byte. (Later models used the 8080A.)
生產“牽牛星”的只是新墨西哥的一家小公司，但名字卻一點也不“小”——微型儀器與自動測量系統公司，或簡稱MITS，這家公司把“牽牛星”設計成一個能夠自己組裝的小玩意兒。
The kit offered a 256-byte memory, just about enough to contain one sentence of text. The Altair’s open, 100-line bus structure evolved into the S-100 standard.
“牽牛星”提供256位元組的記憶體，只夠容納一句句子。它的開源、100線的匯流排結構也融入了當時的S-100標準。
Keyboard? Dream on. That was a few years in the future. Input was accomplished through the “Sense Switches” (I/O address 255), eight toggle switches on the left side of the front panel.
那鍵盤呢？做夢吧。這是幾年後的事了。輸入是通過位於前面板左側的叫做“觸覺開關(Sense Switches)”（I/O位址255）的八個彈簧開關實現的。
Display? More dreaming. Output was accomplished through LEDs on the front panel. LEDs, 1974: high tech, kiddo.
那顯示幕呢？繼續白日做夢吧。輸出是通過位於前面板上的LED燈實現的。在1974年LED燈還算是個高科技哦，親。
The Altair 8800 kit sold for just under $400 (about $1,900 in today’s money). If you wanted to forgo the case, you could get the kit for under $300. Or you could order the whole deal fully assembled: Old-Computers.com quotes a $595 price.
If you wanted to soup the thing up, MITS offered a few peripherals: a video card, a serial card for connecting to a terminal, a 64-KB RAM-expansion card and an 8-inch floppy drive. The floppies stored 300 KB each. Those were the days.
那時就是這樣子的。
MITS founder Ed Roberts got the name Altair from the stellar destination in a Star Trek episode. The idea came from the young daughter of a Popular Electronics magazine editor.
Popular Electronics heralded the amazing gadget on its January 1975 cover. Right away, orders started pouring in.
這款令人驚歎的設備登上了《大眾電子》在1975年1月份的雜誌封面。幾乎是立刻，訂單開始如潮水般湧入。
News of the Altair 8800 excited Paul Allen and Bill Gates, who wrote the first microcomputer Basic for the 8800 and, within months, went on to found Microsoft together.
“牽牛星8800”發售的消息讓 Paul Allen 和 Bill Gates 大喜過望，他們為8800編寫了首個Basic語言。幾個月後，他們既而共同創辦了微軟公司。
MITS sold more than 2,000 Altairs by the end of 1975, beyond Roberts’ wildest expectations. IMS Associates, which sold the remarkably similar IMSAI 8080 microcomputer, shipped 50 that year.
而和他們銷售類似產品IMSAI8080微型電腦的IMS聯合公司，在那年只賣出了50台。
But the Altair inspired more than knockoffs. The Commodore PET, complete with keyboard and monitor, debuted in early 1977. The Apple II came out later that year.
然而“牽牛星”同時也催生出了許多仿製品。擁有鍵盤和顯示器的 “Commodore PET” 於1977年早期首次現身。不久之後蘋果二代也出場了。
MITS sold out to Pertec in 1977. Pertec kept making Altairs through 1978.
MITS於1977年被Pertec收購。Pertec繼續生產“牽牛星”直到1978年。
Microsoft and Intel are still around. You noticed?
原文出處 Originated from Dec. 19, 1974: Build Your Own Computer at Home! | This Day In Tech | Wired.com
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