Was the Altair 8800 computer named after the Planet in the movie Forbidden Planet?
I watched the movie Forbidden Planet and it’s an incredible movie, ever year that I watch it, it seems to have more relevance as it is so far ahead of it’s time, and every year we movie closer to the id being run from the subconscious and brought into reality...but that said, was the Altair 8800 computer from the famous computer club named after the planet Altair IV in this movie?
Best Answer
Apparently not.
Although the origin behind it may have been similar
In Forbidden Planet the crew journey to the 4th planet of....
"the planetary system of the great main sequence star, Altair."
Hence, Altair 4!
As for the computer, Wikipedia has a couple of options for us as to the naming...
One explanation of the Altair name, which editor Les Solomon later told the audience at the first Altair Computer Convention (March 1976), is that the name was inspired by Les's 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. "She said why don't you call it Altair – that's where the Enterprise is going tonight."[17] The Star Trek episode is probably "Amok Time", as this is the only one from The Original Series which takes the Enterprise crew to Altair (Six).
Another explanation is that the Altair was originally going to be named the PE-8 (Popular Electronics 8-bit), but Les Solomon thought this name to be rather dull, so Les, Alexander Burawa (associate editor), and John McVeigh (technical editor) decided that: "It's a stellar event, so let's name it after a star." McVeigh suggested "Altair", the twelfth brightest star in the sky
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Who made the 1st personal computer called the Altair?
Ed Roberts, the maker of the world's first personal computer, died yesterday at the age of 68. Roberts created the Altair 8800, the first computer normal people could a) afford and b) use in their homes, without it taking up an entire room. Altair 8800 was also the platform Paul Allen and Bill Gates used [\u2026]Was the Altair 8800 the first PC?
The Altair is widely recognized as the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution as the first commercially successful personal computer....Altair 8800.Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch floppy disk systemDeveloperMITSManufacturerMITSRelease dateJanuary 19753 more rowsWhat was significant about the Altair 8800?
The Altair 8800, based on the Intel 8080 processor, was aimed at hobbyists but it became the first commercially successful personal computer because it hit the sweet spot of performance and price. It was sold at $439 per kit in a time where other commercial personal computers were in the thousands range.How much did the Altair 8800 cost?
The caption read "World's First Minicomptuer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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