Altair 8800
The first personal computer

In January 1975 the magazine Popular Electronics had a picture of the micro-computer Altair 8800 on the front cover.

This is when the micro computer was born.

In the magazine you could learn about from where you could order the parts for the computer and you got tips about how to build it.

At that time you could not have a ready built Altair, but you could order all the parts from one single supplier.

MITS would deliver the computer and the cheapest version would cost 397 dollars. The computer had a Intel 8080 processor and a CPU with 256 bytes memory.

Around 2000 Altair-computers were sold - about 50 of those in Sweden. In Sweden it was first sold by Hobby Data in Malmö and later via Compelec in Stockholm.

Already from the start there was a Basic language available for the Altair 8800. This was made by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, when he had his Christmas holidays.

The ad in Popular Electronics was seen in Sweden by Jan Nilsson and inspired him to start the first computer shop in Sweden and in Europe - Hobby Data in Malmö