S-100 bus
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The S-100 bus or Altair bus, later standardized as IEEE 696-1983, is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The S-100 bus was the first industry-standard expansion bus fo
Harry Garland and Roger Melen, co-founders of Cromemco, holding an S-100 backplane (1981)
The Cromemco XXU processor board, introduced in 1986. At 16.7 MHz, it is the fastest CPU ever developed for the S-100 bus. It uses a Motorola 68020 processor with 68881 co-processor and 16 Kbytes of high-speed cache memory. This CPU is used in the Cromemco CS-250 computer, widely deployed by the U.S. Air Force.
Racks of Cromemco S-100 Systems at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1984
Sol-20
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The Sol-20 was among the first fully assembled microcomputers with a built-in keyboard and television output, what would later be known as a home computer. The design was the integration of an Intel 8
The Sol-20, referred to as a "terminal computer", was an early all-in-one personal computer.
A Sol-20 with monitor
Typing a BASIC program into the Sol-20
As supplied, the Altair 8800 could only be programmed via front-panel switches and lights. A cost-effective terminal was lacking.