IMSAI 8080 Resurrection

When MITS introduced the Altair 8800–about 43 years ago–it spawned the first personal computer clone: the IMSAI 8080. The clone had several improvements and MITS had difficulty filling orders for real Altairs, so they sold pretty well. [IMSAI Guy] has one of these vintage computers that has been in storage for over 30 years. He’s restoring the thing and there are 26 (and counting) videos of his progress. You can see the second video below, but be sure to check out the others, too.

The IMSAI is famous for being in the movie Wargames. We miss computers with switches and LEDs on a working front panel.

As you might expect, with over two dozen videos, there’s a lot of detail. The computer has quite a few boards.[IMSAI Guy] has to break out the scope, but he eventually gets CP/M and Adventure running.

Although IMSAI went bankrupt in 1979, the name was bought and there is still a presence online today. There is talk of a “series two” that looks like a combination recreation and PC case, but the last update was a few years ago, so we doubt these ever actually shipped.

The IMSAI was more or less an Altair and if you want the flavor of having your own without the expense, you can fire up a browser. We’ve seen other vintage computers made into PC cases before, too.

Filed under: classic hacks

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