How the Altair 8800 Sparked the PC Revolution

1969 — MITS is Founded

Oct 1, 1969

Ed Roberts forms Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems to produce model rocket telemetry kits

MITS Enters Calculator Market

Mar 1, 1971

MITS begins producing electronic calculators.

Calculator Market Collapse

Aug 1, 1973

Foreign competition collapses profits and strains MITS financially.

Intel Releases the 8080 Microprocessor

Apr 1, 1974

The 8080 becomes the chip the Altair will use.

Altair 8800 Design Completed

Dec 1, 1974

Roberts finishes the design and prototype of the Altair.

Popular Electronics Cover Release

Jan 1, 1975

The Altair 8800 appears on the January 1975 magazine cover.

Altair 8800 Official Release

Jan 19, 1975

MITS begins taking orders for the Altair kit.

Gates & Allen Contact MITS about BASIC

Feb 2, 1975

Microsoft’s founders begin work on Altair BASIC.

Demonstration of Altair BASIC at MITS

Mar 1, 1975

Gates Allen show BASIC running on the Altair in Albuquerque.

Homebrew Computer Club Forms

Mar 5, 1975

The first Homebrew meeting held at Gordon French’s garage.

Altair Expansion Boards Released

Jun 1, 1975

Memory boards, I/O cards, and early S-100 peripherals emerge.

Pertec Announces Acquisition of MITS

Dec 1, 1976

Pertec Computer Corp. officially moves to buy MITS.

Altair Line Discontinued

Jul 1, 1977

Pertec ends Altair production.

Altair Becomes a Collector’s Item

Jan 1, 1982

Early Altairs become valuable historical artifacts.

Altair 8800 Recognized as "First PC"

Jan 1, 1996

Smithsonian exhibits the Altair as the first successful personal computer.