The Altair 8800 computer was a small computer introduced in December 1974 by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is considered by many to have been the first commercially successful personal computer. Edward H. Roberts, the founder of MITS, designed the Altair to replace the company's failed calculator business. Working with his friend Les Soloman, who was looking for a small computer to promote, Roberts sought to build a personal computer that was expandable like the new business minicomputers, contained individual circuit boards that could communicate internally, and would sell for less than $500. The name "Altair" came from Soloman's 12-year-old daughter, Lauren, who suggested it after watching the Star Trek episode "Amok Time" (original series), in which the crew of the starship Enterprise travels to the planet Altair 6.

The Altair was sold primarily in kit form through mail-order computer catalogs. It was based on a 2 MHz...