Dammat. "were not limited" -> "were more limited"
On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 9:15 PM, drlegendre . <drlegen...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have my own ridiculous ad-hoc hypothesis on this.. > > Both names have a couple things in common - first, they do +not+ contain > the actual CPU model. This may have been to avoid marketplace confusion and > potential legal action from a outfit much bigger than Altair (Now who makes > the 8080 again? Intel or Altair??). > > Secondly, the non-zero digits are in the same order in both model names - > 680 (6800) and 8800 (8080). This most definitely does evoke the CPU model, > and is easily recalled. The decision to go with 8800 (vs. 8008) may have > been arbitrary, though "eighty-eighty" sounds a whole lot like > "eighty-eight". The options for the 6800-based machine were not limited - > other than 680, they had 6800 (sounds too much like 8800, though a case can > be made for it..) and things like 6080 which would be just kind of weird > (that's a well-known vacuum tube, btw). > > It's also worth noting that the 680 is physically smaller than the 8800, > and the shorter three-digit model number seems to evoke a smaller product. > > On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 6:06 PM, Sam O'nella <baryth...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 5:54 PM, j...@cimmeri.com <j...@cimmeri.com> wrote: >> >> > >> > >> > On 12/17/2016 1:23 PM, Stephen Pereira wrote: >> > >> >> I was (finally) lucky enough to acquire an Altair 680 back in >> November... >> >> >> > >> > Is there any logic to the naming of these Altairs? Wonder why it >> wasn't >> > "Altair 8080" and "Altair 6800". 8800 and 680 don't follow the same >> > pattern. >> > >> > ------ >> > >> > Had MITS made other Altairs... >> > >> > Altair 8800 = 8080 >> > 8850 = 8085 >> > 8860 = 8086 >> > 8880 = 8088 >> > 8286 = 80286 >> > 8386 = 80386 >> > 680 = 6800 >> > 680 = 6809 >> > 680 = 68000 >> > >> > ;-), >> > >> > - JS >> > ---------------------------- >> > >> lol, I would love to hear that too if anyone knows any stories behind the >> naming. Used to hurt my head to remember that it was an 8800 not an 8080. >> I know the fairly well published story about the name Altair but companies >> and their model numbers are always odd. >> > >
