front panel display for a modern PC

[Chuck Guzis]

On 29 Feb 2008 at 22:46, Brent Hilpert wrote:

> As much as the Altair and IMSAI panels can be considered unnecessary (the
> contemporary SWTPC 6800 went straight to a two-button panel (power and reset)),
> one might consider how much the Altair/IMSAI front panels influenced or
> hastened the take-off of the PC/computer-hobbyist market/revolution. Those
> front panels said: 'Look, you can have your own computer just like the ones the
> big boys have'. Would it have been the same if the cover of Popular Electronics
> in 1976 pictured a blank box with two switches?

You know, in my case, it wouldn't have helped.

To this day, I remember inviting a member of the fair sex to my 
apartment to see my newly-assembled MITS 8800 happily running some 
blinkenlights program.  Her reaction was devastating--"THAT'S NOT A 
COMPUTER--THAT'S A TOY!".

Mencken was right. "How little it takes to make life unbearable: a 
pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh."

Cheers?
Chuck