front panel display for a modern PC

[Fred Cisin]

On Fri, 29 Feb 2008, 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?

I have heard a number of times that the actual machine never made it to
that photo shoot, so what was pictured was an empty box mock-up.

If that mock-up hadn't had lights and switches, then billg would have
stayed at Harvard, IBM wouldn't have felt a need to protect their
monopoly, and Sellam's warehouse(s) would be empty.

--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		cisin at xenosoft.com