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The MOS 6502: the people’s princess
On the cover of the January, 1975 edition of Popular Electronics was a model that set hearts aflame and pulses racing — at least, in our corner of geekdom. The magazine announced a major breakthrough in consumer electronics that was being eagerly anticipated: the first affordable, commercial personal computer. The device that promised to end waiting times for time-share slices on a mainframe to check if a computer programme worked or paying a king’s ransom to own a machine.
Named after a real star (but referenced in a Star Trek episode as a planet), it was called the “ALTAIR 8800”.
In fact, the Altair 8800 owed inspiration to Popular Electronics. As the publication of record of the period’s technology scene, the magazine’s technical editor Les Soloman was inundated by with pitches about experimental garage computers. To evaluate these pitches, Solomon corresponded with an engineer and entrepreneur he trusted named Ed Roberts.
