There's a Robert Cringely Geek History video out there that discusses the Altair. They had no real use for the contraption, and some inventive geek sat down in front of it at a convention for an hour or so reading a list of switches to flip and the order to flip them in off a piece of paper. Halfway through someone kicked the plug out by mistake...and he restarted. At the end, when he'd finally flipped all the switches he needed to flip, he put an AM radio on top of the Altair, and hit run. The radio picked up a tinny version of "Fool on the Hill"
They were so impressed he got a standing ovation and a "Stripped Philips Screw" Award.
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There's a Robert Cringely Geek History video out there that discusses the Altair. They had no real use for the contraption, and some inventive geek sat down in front of it at a convention for an hour or so reading a list of switches to flip and the order to flip them in off a piece of paper. Halfway through someone kicked the plug out by mistake...and he restarted. At the end, when he'd finally flipped all the switches he needed to flip, he put an AM radio on top of the Altair, and hit run. The radio picked up a tinny version of "Fool on the Hill"
They were so impressed he got a standing ovation and a "Stripped Philips Screw" Award.