Altair 8800 Arduino Clone - A Closer Look (Incl CP/M & Zork)

Let's take a closer look at the Altair 8800 (in clone/replica form) - what can we do with it? What sort of games can it play?

Let me know in the comments if there are any particular features or software that you want me to explore on this thing.

If you're interested in buying the board I used to make the computer in this video, here's a link to the ebay store where I got it:

[tdumnxy]

I played a version of Zork on my C=64 in the eighties. In '75 I played Lunar Lander on a teletype terminal, no screen just paper output. It was on a remote USAF mainframe via dial-up at 300 baud! Had to go to a mall or motel to play a video game like Tank. It was as exciting then as any modern Xbox or PS game today.

[shakacat]

I don't know much about things like that but looks really fun 🐱

[kathrynillsley]

Watching this- the enormous time and effort for tiny reward- makes me amazed that computers weren’t abandoned as a developmental dead end.

[Petertronic]

Text adventures were so great. You built the pictures of where you were in your imagination. A lot of the fun was in drawing maps as you played. When graphics started being added to the games, they were WORSE, because they cut the descriptive text down to a bare minimum to make room for the awful graphics!

[PandemoniumMeltDown]

I kinda got used to the way you move the Cans full of Weird Stuff so much it's even hard to pause to read the label but, I admit, I was genuinely scared for that huge coffee mug safety. You are clearly a very skilled and precise gesticulator. Hats off.

[markjwilcox]

@Atomic Shrimp - Wow. How good to see old-school games running. That Ladder games looks very much like the game Chuckie Egg from the 80s. Takes me back.

[PaulLemars]

I have to build this. I need to play Zork! I'm 64 years old and I've been working with microcomputers (PC's) my entire career. You know what would be really cool? If the Arduino could trigger audio samples on maybe a daughter arduino of the old Shugart eight inch floppy drives whenever it did a read, write or seek. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love our new overpowered desktops but the old machines used to clank and clonk when they worked.

[GrandadsOtherChannel]

Ah, text games. I have been searching for one I wrote back in the 80s and used to bundle with other software for the Dragon 32 & 64. It was relatively short and featured some of my workmates at the time. I originally wrote it at work on one of the RAIR Black Box computers that we used at the time. Over the years I seem to have lost any copies I had. I am sure I had converted it to MBASIC.

[debb]

Hi, ☺ Brilliant I really enjoyed that. Thanks.

[pcfred]

Zork looks like the Colossal Cave adventure game. Wikipedia claims that Zork was inspired by Adventure. Apparently Zork is far more sophisticated though.

[JohnDoe-irte]

Hey! I know somebody who has created an Arduino Z80 clone EXACTLY like this! Execpt with more buttons ^^

[SimonBuchanNz]

I love that CP/M just gives you a bad command back with a question mark.

[nijeri]

If I had the chance to play Zorg, I'd probably play it forever.

I'm quite a fan of those text-based games.

[TheWinnieston]

I have the adwater version, but the disk doesn't boot at switch 12 like yours did. I am confused.

[dannydetonator]

Just like eating WW2 rations. Could ask for contents and specifications, but could just not resist shouting: *¡I'm first!* First watching someone playing an Altair. Wait, someone shurely done that before...

[GeoNeilUK]

I wonder how far the Altair 8800/S-100 technology could have gone?

[PiepsiPanic]

Too bad that Altair 8800 panel is no longer available. :(
The above linked seller only offers a different one now, it doesn't look like that well-known 8800 panel like that one featured in this video.
Does anybody here know another ressource to get one of these?

[DrexProjects]

Makes me want to pull the ZX81 out of the closet. Matter a fact, I will.

[thetalkingfist]

As a Gen Z I find this really adorable

[cyberia]

The link in the description leads to a valid user, but he has no items for sale.