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uCsimm News
The uClinux guys have
announced that they are finished testing the uCsimm and are now taking
pre-orders. For US$175, you get a SIMM-sized unit with a 16MHz
Dragonball processor (the very one used in the Palm Pilots), 2MB of
Flash, 8MB of RAM, and integrated 10baseT. Since it can apparently drive a
QVGA LCD, I guess it might be good for my fridge? :) uClinux is
Linux without an MMU and more info can be found at the uClinux.org site.
I can't access the site, their server must be overloaded...
A total of 21.6 MIPS :) Impressive.
This is great! I'd love to see embedded linux in far more appliances. I wonder when they'll have a port of ucLinux for the Z-80, or maybe even the Intel 4004 :-)
Right there you have a nice-sized wearable computer (well, you'd want some power source and general IO, but it's there).
;-)
let's see, you could one of these puppies to control stuff in your house (get some mechanical or solid-state relays), produce audio stream for a portable MP3 player (need some DA's and amplifier), attach a text-to-speech converter and interface to your phone line to say one of 21487 available jokes into your phone line (a la wozniak), attach some 2-axis reflective actuators and a laser diode and produce your own laser show, attach a small camera, transmitter, and helium balloon and build your own spy satellites
you name it, you can do it.
:-)
:-) Thanks for that gem of wisdom!
Oh, I tell you that's the best laugh I've had all day
Thanks for the pointer, I never even knew this project was going on!! I've had rudimentary plans for disecting the kernel to run on other CPU's. I was seriously thinking of trying to get some scaled-down version of linux on the M68000 (yes, the original) and/or the 68008. Though I've heard rumor that there is some interrupt bug with this CPU that won't let you recover from certain conditions, and hence linux cannot run. Not certain what, or how true.
I belive that the "Industry Standard" palmtop OS is currently the PalmOS, assuming you are using market share (57% for the palm, I think) are your ruler.
Sure, the source code base for all possible features has grown, but look at the size of the actual kernel:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 399087 Dec 15 1997 vmlinuz.2.0.32
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 518195 May 4 02:29 vmlinuz.2.2.7
That's only a 29% increase in kernel size, with roughly the same features in both.
-James
I want to get up at different times
depending if it's a week day, holiday, etc,
and I don't want to fiddle with little clock
radio buttons. I want to use my browser,
and be able to do it from work. Bring it
on.
Why not beowulf 100 HP graphing calculators? That would be 31337
I have a TI-85 calc. I sometimes write assembly prorams for it. It rocks ;)
(now the HP48 trolls will chime in)
I'd use something like the board at http://www.dontronics.com/dt102.html
(These SimmStick uC-on-a-simm boards have been around for quite a while now and generally use 8-bit Arizona Microchip or Atmel AVR uCs)
A friend of mine who's spent WAY too much time writing code for the Dragonball refers to it as "the dog with both back legs missing." Draggin' balls.
ha
ha ha
I was thinking of using these things to make nifty point of sale terminals. Plug one end into ethernet, the other into the LCD, and hand a keyboard/magstripe reader of the serial port to the side. The keyboard/reader would cost more then the CPU module would.
MooMooMoo
(Cows hate cookies)
Great!!! Maybe they'll come out with a port that will work on old WANG's (circa 1985). Right now I have some really huge doorstops that I'd like to seek Linux on. They're all z80 based. It could happen.
Maybe it could even run X.
I get soiled just thinking about it.
he he. well ya see there that ya gets called one of them there trolls for sayin bad stuff about that there linux boolsheeit. well yall need ta know that linux is fuckin hogwarsh. microsoft is number one all else is nothin but week old horsesheeit. git windows 98se and run it on yalls packard bell computers. well hell, i reckon its the best software ever made. ya just cant beat them boys at microsoft at programmin. thems there are the best there is. microsoft, git it or git outta town, partner.
Gates stole thousands of hours of computer time from Harvard University cross developing his BASIC interpretter. Then a couple years later he has the nerve to write his "open letter" to the hacker community accusing the community of piracy and stealing "his" BASIC.
Try BG Micro. They deal in surplus displays, chips, and electronic components. Their stock is always changing so it is best to check back every few weeks or get on their snail mail flyer list.
Tell me they haven't ported Linux to the HP-48gx... And I've been using mine as a dumb terminal to replace xconsole =)
There's a fair chance Harvard's computer access policy at the time addressed this, in which case they probably have a good legal case for getting x% of MSFT's stock. :-)
Any ooooold harvard hackers around with a computer center manual?
What's to stop you from using just an old pentium 60 or even a 486 from building such a device. You could probably buy one from a recycler or a garage sale for under a hundred bucks and you'll get a lot more functionality and freedom. Size should not be a problem because once you set it up, just hide it in a corner or a closet or something with only the LCD visible.... I am using excatly such a device that boots off of a floppy and does the routing/firewalling etc three computers for my home network. I don't even need an LCD since I can simply telnet into it if I need to do maintainance. If it ever behaves badly ( not that it has yet) I can just hit the power button to boot it again... no hard disk--- no problem.
Ah, to hell with that. Embed the microphone and speaker in your jawbone.
would be nice to make money off of:-) apply it to a couple of commercial ideas I have and I will be the next Bill Gates - but i might give a dollar or two to the linux community, maybe a few million.....
Where can I get an LCD panel that will work with this?
I'm on the Linux side of this argument, but that was a stupid post, buddy:
c:\winnt> rdisk [enter]
-Chris
ucsimm should have gone for a real microcontroller, given the way costs for the board are divided it makes little sense to go for such a cheap underpowered controller. They should have taken something like the SH-3/4 or strongarm. Then it would have been interesting because it could have run normal linux at a good speed.
For now with those TINI boards coming for 50$ a pop whats the point?
Don't forget the BEST use of the Z80... The Nintendo GameBoy! :)
Where would this world be today without portable Tetris? Pretty bored, probably.
-Chris
Dont get me wrong this is a niffty device, but I would love someone to do this with the MIPS VR41XX series processors.
Can you even change the ROM that it comes with? What if you want to make some customizations...
:) out of one of these...
I'd really like to make a mini internet dummy terminal (telnet system
-ethan
Hmm just what I was thinking!!! It would make
a nice wearable "controller", i.e use it
for always on input from the twiddler, pump
output to a small LCD status screen. Use
some of the extra I/O lines to power up/down
other parts of your PLAN(Proximital Local Area
Network) such as flash disk, cell phone, mic,
+other higher speed/power hungry processors
"on person" systems. The ethernet provides the
backbone of your "wearable network"!!!
hey, stupid, pay attention..
each time a new kernel comes out new features and drivers are added. don't just the kernel based on the size of it's source.
hey, stupid, pay attention.
theres a lot more features in 2.2.
ha.
They just keep on getting smaller and smaller. I was just thinking that the cell phone my 10 month old son is drooling on didn't exist when I was 10 months old. Makes me wonder what's gonna happen 26 years from now :-)
-Chuck
Sorry, too lazy to log in...
ten.knilrevlis@wkcuhc
A MMU is like a hardware-implemented memory managemer. It acts as a physical firewall, of sorts, between the memory and the CPU, and triggers an interrupt if the CPU tries to access protected or non-existant memory.
Assuming bug-free (yeah right) code is written, one can get by without the MMU.
When one has a server, or even just a simple machine that lots of code is being hacked on, memory protection is essential, for just the reasons you described above. Runaway stack being the most destructive (ie, all memory overwritten!) However, if you've got a gas-pump controller or a grocery-store checkout computer, the end user is going to do no coding, and the operating system and/or application code are assumed to be bug free (hopefully through extensive testing). So there should (theoretically) be no problem by going MMU-less.
First of all, you shouldn't do this comparison with compressed files.
And even then the file size does not tell the full story. You have to consider:
The only fair comparison is between the sizes of the most minimal kernel you can build. And while 2.2.9 while be larger here than 1.2.13, it's not 500% larger - more like 30%.
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 1888809 Aug 2 1995 linux-1.2.13.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6099082 Jun 14 05:15 linux-2.0.37.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11235732 May 13 23:54 linux-2.2.9.tar.bz2
That's a 500% increase, in less than three years. NT in the same period has roughly doubled in size.
There might be one in there. If you find it, blow real hard, you might be able to get free music over a telephone.
heh heh.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I agree that for some things, its overkill and that the dt102 you refer to might be better suited, aside from the fact that it doesn't have plug-and-go Ethernet capabilities.
To me, the built-in ethernet is the best thing about these uCSimms... second being that it runs Linux, third being its size and power requirements. I don't particularly care what cpu it uses, just the fact that as a platform it provides fundamental ethernet-friendly communication abilities is where it's at.
But my "GeekClock" would have to be a bit smarter than these dumb terminals, though. For the "Check IRC Channels" mode, I'd have to be able to implement a mini-irc client, and/or process shell scripts to do something with the output.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
This thing is awesome. I can't wait until they ship, I've placed an order for 2 of them for instant prototype work on some things I've been meaning to work on for years.
The fact that it has built-in ethernet is a *major* plus, in my opinion.
Imagine a small terminal that you can plug into your network and get statistics, information from around your network, instantly.
You don't need your PC to be up and running, you just have this small device sitting on a pedestal on your desk with a 320x200 screen, scrolling information from your network, displaying bar graphs of system activity, etc.
Since it runs Linux, we could build a minimal web server for it, so that you can administer it by sticking it on the network and pointing your browser at it.
I'm going to build something like this when I get my prototype uCSimm boards, and I think I will call it the GeekClock. It'll have a few modes:
Clock mode (dial/digital face, etc)
Netmon interface - display stats from various netmon packages on your different machines.
News scroller - slashdot headlines on your desk!
IRC interface - see who is in your favourite #channel!
etc.
Sort of like a dedicated push client... imho the problem with the whole push phenomenon a few years back was that it required your PC not do much else - if you can have it on your desk and just look at it now and then as you work, it seems to me that this is a better way of doing it.
And since it'll be an Open Source project, we can make the GeekClock totally rock! Got a module you want to write, simply dl the code, add it, and away we go.
This way I can finally turn off all the stuff that runs in the background on my main systems, and I don't need to interrupt what I'm doing to keep an eye on things - the GeekClock stands on its pedestal on my desk, telling me whats going on with my network.
That's just one idea.
Another idea I had was to add a MIDI interface to it, and use it as a MIDI protocol analyzer - since I write music software for a living, this would be useful to me.
I guess the point is that there are a whole bunch of things that I could do with a uCSimm when I get one, and I can't wait!
If anyone is interested in the GeekClock project, don't hesitate to mail me. I'd sure like to colaborate with other people that are interested in putting this nifty device to use...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
In summary, even 2.2.x kernels can be trimmed down nicely.
Bill - aka taniwha
--
Leave others their otherness. -- Aratak
Posted by Ungrounded Lightning Rod:
Darn. I was hoping much of the differential between the source and load module increase was more comments.
B-)
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
Insulin existed millions if not billions of years before there was a canada.
Maybe the process of extracting it from pig pancreases was developed there, or maybe it was the genetic engineering of e. coli to produce it, but Canadians didn't invent insulin. The best things that come out of Canada are the bacon, and Molson.
LK
On the one hand, Linux is adapting to Desktop computers in terms of integrated features and this is a good thing, nobody questions that, but on the other hand, Linux's size means its suitability for embeded applications becomes questionable. Not as questionable as using NT but still... (correct me if I'm wrong, and I wish I were, but I do have heard micros~1 is pushing its NT kernel (if there is such a thing...) for embeded applications) /. article about a cash machine BSODing?
Anybody remember this
Now... there is always a way to compile a custom kernel with minimal functionality, thanks god! the size of the compressed kernel source means for a great part that there are now lots of features / drivers / functionality that were just not available a couple of years ago.
However, how does a minimal 2.2.10 compares with a 1.2.13? (both considered stable if I recall correctly)
This is important, because projects like linuxrouter depend on being embedable, either on a floppy or much much more important, on devices like the diskonchip thingy. Do you see the market? routers, dns, xterms, you name it! Any of those devices could work on an embeded 486 with 8Mb or more of RAM. Is this 486/8Mb under my desk, a masquerading router/caching DNS? I thought so too.
Now... you can spit on Linux, and use QNX ( check it, QNX is the king!). /stability / once again, you name it. Also, but some people might argue this is not the point (then please tell me what is the point about Linux), make it more attractive to hardware hackers.
OR, because we're dealing here with a minimal Linux, actually designed for embeded applications, there is a lesser chance to get it wrong, therefore adding to security
Hackable alternatives to QNX might include katix, ELKS or even FreeDOS... and of course, uClinux.
Well well well,those are just some thoughts of mine, I'm nowhere involved with The Kernel, therefore I'm not in a very good position to critisize it, I just hope that the right people have reached the same conclusions or are aware of the fact that we may loose an important market if we only concentrate on desktops and above.
---
"Hasta la victoria siempre!" El Comandante
I don't know why, but this guy's posts remind me of The Gnulix Guy mixed with MEEPT!!.. A pretty untasty mixture, I must say.
-- Does Rain Man use the Autistic License for his software?
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
Well, the TI-83+ only has 160k of RAM (see TIcalc's TI-83+ page), so it wouldn't be useful for much of anything.. I doubt you could get much more than the linux kernel stuffed onto it..
:^)
Now, the TI-92+ is a different story!
-- Does Rain Man use the Autistic License for his software?
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
This could give a real kick in the pants to mobile wireless network access. It is the perfect mate to the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio organization's 1Mbit/s, spread-spectrum, radio modem. One notable thing about the modem is that its data jack is a 10base-T ethernet port. The other thing worth mentioning here is that it has an approximate 20-mile range. Her's looking forward to production!
Go pull an old intel catalgo, or something else with details. The 4004 and 8008 had very little in common. The 8008 had general memory addressing (14 bits), while the 4004 adressed memory *chips*, with a different address space for RAM and ROM. Both were meant for what we'd now call embedded applications (they weren't meant to be desktops), but it was possible to build a general purpose machine around the 8008. The 4004 tended to end up in cash registers and calculators.
The 4 bit and 8 bit lines were just plain different. The 4040 was an enhanced 4004, and the 8080 a (much) enhanced 8008. But the 4040 was real, and they sold them. If it wasn't so deeply buried in my basement, I'd pull my old intel parts catalog to give you the citations for it.
>d00d, Linux is not getting smaller. the kernel is getting bigger. >for someone like me who doesn't need all these new features the kernel >adds, that tends to suck.
Then recompile the kernel moron, leaving out the stuff you don't need. BWT just what do you think the people who are creating the single floppy distros are doing? You mickeysoft flacks are really quite ignorant, aren't you?
i'm surprised no one has commented on the other possibilities of this thing...
..bring it to an office building/computer lab/dorm and hook it to an ethernet port.. run a packet sniffer / tcp connection hijacker. sniff/steal the passwords of everyone in the building.
..add a speaker and you have a exceedingly flexible tone generator. remember those radio shack telephone dialers that were so easily modified to make pay-phone coin drop tones?
there's probably more, but i'm just not l33t enough to think of them. but you see where this thing can be a powerful force for eeeevil as well, don't you?
"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because Good is dumb."
-- Dark Helmet
umm.. that is source code dude. try comparing the NT kernel with the compiled Linux kernel. I can fit a bootable kernel on a 1.44M boot disk. Do that with NT.
"This utility updates the repair information saved when you installed your system, and creates an Emergency Repair Disk. The repair information is used to recover a bootable system in case of failure. This utility should not be used as a backup tool."
Basically, if your system doesn't boot, you do a reinstall and then use this disk to try to recover your registry entries and user database, etc.
... Not a bad rendition at all. I suspect you have lived somewhere around here. However, there were a few mistakes that gave you away:
It's foolin not fooling, Winders not Windows, and bidness not business.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
>could it be possible to put 8 of those little nifty devices in my old mobo? that would be nice!
Although they would physically fit into a 30-pin memory socket, the electrical meaning of the various pins is different. To make a beowulf cluster you'd need a custom "motherboard", probably including an ethernet hub.
However, since these modules are only clocked at 16 MHz, it would take a lot of them to out-perform a single StrongARM-class chip. These modules seem much better suited to distributed control and home automation than to number-crunching.
However, you cannot deny the geekiness of having an entire 8-machine Beowulf cluster on one motherboard.
I wish I had some moderator points, I'd up your post. This device is MUCH more interesting than the ucSimm or whatever they're calling it.
Similar capabilities, much faster, less than 1/3 the cost. If I was going to spend the $$$ on an embedded unit like that, this is the one I'd probably pick.
the kernel easealy fits in 521kB of ram.
And, consider that some of that source code increase is due to platform specific things like x86, Alpha, SPARC, UltraSparc, MIPS, and PPC ports. And, drivers for various hardware that doesn't overlap, and support for a lot of filesystems.
The only exscuse MS has is drivers.
As for distribution bloat, that is expected, and ihas less to do with Linux and more to do with the increasing amount of Open Source software available to put in a Distribution. So, in a sense distribution bloat is a good thing because it says there is a lot of open source software out there to put in a distribution.
Anyone out there do Robot Wars? One of these would probably work nicely. ;-)
What about using the ethernet connection to handle communication between multiple uCsimms in the saem robot. Wired ethernet should be able to handle that. Aren't there 10baseT to wireless converters?
Pardon my lack of knowledge, but aren't MMUs important in Unix? I mean, don't MMUs keep things like fandango on core from occuring? If they're there for a reason, are there any major disadvantages to having an MMU-less operating system? I has always just assumed that pocket-sized OSes (QNX, PalmOS, WinCE) were simply written with a lack-of-MMU in mind, thus preventing the problem. I'm really kind of interested in this, and it doesn't seem to be covered in their FAQ. Anyone have any info?
Ross
I wasn't able to find it on the site, does anyone know what the memory usage of the little kernel is? How much of that 8MB RAM/1-4MB flash do I get to play with?
Re: MMU/Supervisor mode in 68k-
The 68030 introduced an MMU (as did a certian other chip with a conspicuosly distinguishing 3 in it) and before that some MacII's with 68020's had an external MMU. An MMU can prevent memory thrashing, but the Supervisor mode present in all 68k chips only controls who gets executed at interrupt time and system traps. Supervisor mode doesn't do much for safety aside from providing some organization to buttress the OS on.
Start Running Better Polls
Yes, Breezecom makes ethernet bridge products that are supposed to work reasonably well, albit at 1mb.
d00d, Linux is not getting smaller. the kernel is getting bigger.
for someone like me who doesn't need all these new features the kernel adds, that tends to suck. i really noticed this when i was recently building some ramdisk floppies. i was starting with the darkstar resque disk (a 2.0.22 kernel) and wanted to use 2.0.29 for some networking drivers. it just wasn't going to happen with all the tools i needed as it was laid out.
and that's not to mention that distributions are getting all too large to fit onto small disks (ie look at the base size of a RedHat install). which is one reason i'm playing with single floppy distros on some of my systems.
that's not to say that Linux sucks (anyone who knows me know i have it deployed in a very important areas, like some of my beowulf supercomputing!), but seriously, let's face it, Linux is also suffering some code bloat.
jose
jose nazario jose@biocserver.cwru.edu
> I want one, but I want to know why I want one.
:-( ).
You need a reason for neat toys? I know I don't (OTOH, convincing my wife that I need on is a totally different story
Meow-wow!
Windows is the Acme of computing -- in the Wile E. Coyote sense.
Hey - I know plenty of people with dumb-souding accents that don't like Microsoft stuff... :) Unless that's your normal style of speaking, in which case I apologize for mocking your accent.
Dallas Semiconductor (the folks who make the Java ring) have a product called TINI that puts ethernet and Java into this form factor. (They're working on a single-chip version.)
--
Brent J. Nordquist N0BJN
Okay, you need a reason?
;-)
It's the Linux Kernel. It's small. It supports LCD, 10base-T and LCD screens.
Okay: power-supply. lcd display that projects an image into your eye, mounted on glasses. twiddler. wireless 10base-T network.
Welcome to the world of wearables.
Okay, so it's only 2.7MIPS. So through together a small hub and a bunch of these. Beowulf cluster in your fannypack.
Any questions?
Yeah, but thats also the source code for like 6 other platforms.
Microsoft aggravates my tourettes syndrome.
Thats funny... "yeah I got a RAID 5 Floppy array its 4MB. The disks are hot swapable when the light is out."
Microsoft aggravates my tourettes syndrome.
Now we're finnaly able to implement the computers used in the book "Enders Game" (Read it? It's _good_); Just put together one of these with a 14" TFT-screen with the press-sensitivity of a Palm Pilot, and you're there! If I had the money, I would hack it (And if I had the time, I would hack my favourite idea UI for Linux, too and run on it, too).
--The knowledge that you are an idiot, is what distinguishes you from one.
Here's what's in the new Palm VII.
(Disclaimer: I get paid by this company to hack/rev-eng the hardware, not marketing.)
--The more you know, the less you know.
symbol technologies makes a whole bunch of options there
www.symbol.com
------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
So maybe with 16 or so of these babys I could run PVM, and then hack floppy RAID support.....
-Scott scott@surrealistic.org
OK, so I could have a web server in my clock radio, but other than that, what purpose would something like the uCSIMM offer the average joe? Is this mainly aimed at the embedded folks?
I want one, but I want to know why I want one.
Dave
What are some applications of this?
What can I do with this that's cool?
I might be interested in getting one of these, IF I can get an LCD display for it. Does anyone know where to find LCD displays that would work on this mighty SIMM?
Exactly. The Altair wasn't very useful, but people who had one, had a lot of fun with them, and those of us who couldn't afford them lusted after them with all our hearts. I applaud this effort! It is the true spirit of Linux, and of computer science in general!!
I know of a used computer store that has a few used LCD screens. Could I use one of these chips to controll one? That would make a killer flat screen for my server. I could attach it to the case with velcro!
This leads me to my next question, how would I design such a project(the screen, not the simm)? If anyone has tried to use a replacemant laptop LCD on a desktop I would love to hear it.
Loren
"Religion, opiate of the masses."
I still have a couple of these machines around - great for (really old) games, and for home automation projects.
compared to other micro boards used for robotics:
pros
- low power ussage when idle
- lots of ram (for the size)
- good number of io/ports. good for controlling servo motors and reading digital sensors.
- fairly fast. Probably good enough to do some image processing.
- ethernet useful for fast experimentation in tethered mode.
- nice environment to work in (linux!)
cons
- Needs at least one A/D converter.
- Wireless Ethernet would be more useful. Autonomous robots aren't going to be able to use plain ethernet.
-- Virtual Windows Project
You might also try taking a look at the JumpTec DIMM pc which is an amd core 486 dx2 66, 16 M ram, 16 M IDE flash disk, ide controller, serial, paralell, floopy, and an ISA bus on pins, isn't much bigger than this, but it is a little more expensive, but it would give you an MMU and a more mature Linux option... The stanford wearable people are using them...
---
Play Six Pack Man. I
It's interesing that Linux and computers keep getting smaller and smaller while Microsoft's source code keeps getting bigger and bigger ...
"Judge me by my size do you? and well you should not..."
Oh my gosh, Linux is so big they could barely fit UCLinux on a SIMM! that's horrible. And all those single floppy distros(Tom's Root Boot), my gosh, talk about a bloated kernel!
;)
Personally I think that the scalabilty of Linux is one of it's greatest assests. It can be as bloated and slow or as small and fast as you want it to be.
I gotta admit though, anyone who uses Beowulf clusters is OK in my book, even if they don't know how to recompile a kernel
How much does a QVGA display costs and where
can i get one?
actually those are damn expensive..something like $7-800
doesn't another company put out credit card size systems with at least pentium class power? I seem to recall it having all the bells and whistles (VGA, serial and parallel IO, HD controller, etc.) on board. I think they start at about $600, though. I would want one of those for a useful wearable.
This little jewel is very nice though. I can see MANY uses for it. It would be perfect for high school wearable/control projects since the price is so low.
wow!
could it be possible
to put 8 of those little
nifty devices in my old mobo?
that would be nice!
a cat is a cat is a cat is a cat... well, you get the idea!
Considering that the TI-83 Plus (with *flash rom*!) is out now, are you considering porting linux to that? Or are the memory constraints just too high for anything less than a pure ASM OS?
Its remember the firt days of Altair computer,
whe you order by mail your kit, and after some
hardwork with your soldering iron you got a box with some keys, and you need to setup every assembler instruction without any error using that keys to boot from a paper tape.
And the legend tells that our "friend" Bill started their company hacking a basic for the Altair using computer time paid by us in the university.
Malba Thaan
(excuse my poor knowledge of english)