IMSAI 8080 computer at the Computer History Museum

The IMSAI 8080 was an early microcomputer released in late 1975, based on the

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibil ...

and later 8085 and

S-100 bus The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE 696-1983 ''(withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. computers, consisting of p ...

. It was a clone of its main competitor, the earlier MITS Altair 8800. The IMSAI is largely regarded as the first "clone" microcomputer. The IMSAI machine ran a highly modified version of the CP/M operating system called IMDOS. It was developed, manufactured and sold by IMS Associates, Inc. (later renamed ''IMSAI Manufacturing Corp''). In total, between 17,000 and 20,000 units were produced from 1975 to 1978.

History

In May 1972, William Millard started a business called ''IMS Associates'' (IMS) in the areas of computer consulting and engineering, using his home as an office. By 1973, Millard incorporated the business and soon found funding for it, receiving several contracts, all for software. In 1974, IMS was contacted by a client which wanted a " workstation system" that could complete jobs for any General Motors car dealership. IMS planned a system including a terminal, small computer,

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

, and special software. Five of these workstations were to have common access to a

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

, which would be controlled by a small computer. Eventually product development was stopped. Millard and his chief engineer Joe Killian turned to the

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...

. Intel had announced the 8080 chip, and compared to the 4004 to which IMS Associates had been first introduced, it looked like a "real computer". Full-scale development of the IMSAI 8080 was put into action using the existing Altair 8800's

, and by October 1975 an ad was placed in '' Popular Electronics'', receiving positive reactions. Advertisement: IMSAI 8080 computer with 1K of RAM. $439 kit, $621 assembled. IMS shipped the first IMSAI 8080 kits on 16 December 1975, before turning to fully assembled units. "Later that day, December 16

975 Year 975 ( CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using ...

United Parcel Service picked up the first shipment of 50 IMS computer kits for delivery to customers." In 1976, IMS was renamed to ''IMSAI Manufacturing Corporation'' because by then, they were a manufacturing company, not a consulting firm. In 1977, IMSAI marketing director Seymour I. Rubinstein paid

Gary Kildall Gary Arlen Kildall (; May 19, 1942 – July 11, 1994) was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur. During the 1970s, Kildall created the CP/M operating system among other operating systems and programming tools, an ...

$25,000 for the right to run CP/M version 1.3, which eventually evolved into an operating system called IMDOS, on IMSAI 8080 computers. Other manufacturers followed and CP/M eventually became the ''de facto'' standard 8-bit operating system. By October 1979, the IMSAI corporation was

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. The VDP (all-in-one) computer had sold poorly and was not competitive with the Radio Shack

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor, ...

, and Apple II computers. The 'IMSAI' trademark was acquired by Thomas "Todd" Fischer and Nancy Freitas (former early employees of IMS Associates), who continued manufacturing the computers under the IMSAI name as a division of Fischer-Freitas Co. Support for early IMSAI systems continues. IMSAI8080 TV11

IMSAI 8080 replicas have entered the market, due in part to the legality of hardware copyright encouraging amateur techophiles to make backwards compatible machines, with the retro aesthetics. The color scheme matches the original IMS 1973 "Hypercube" project, but some peripherals such as the floppy are simulated and instead use Wi-fi.

VDP series

In mid-1977, IMSAI released the VDP-series, based on the Intel 8085. According to the product description of January 1978, many different models were released, with 32K or 64K memory and a 9" (VDP4x-range) or 12" (VDP8x-range) video display. For example, the VDP-40 had two 5-1/4" disk drives, a 9" 40-character-wide display and a 2K ROM monitor all in one cabinet. The built-in keyboard had a 8035 microprocessor and a serial interface to the main board. The VIO-C video board had 2K firmware ROM, 2K character generator read-only memory (ROM) with 256 characters and 2K of refresh memory. The VDP80/1050 was listed in January 1978 for and the VDP-40/64 for .

In popular culture

An IMSAI 8080 and an

acoustic coupler In telecommunications, an acoustic coupler is an interface device for coupling electrical signals by acoustical means—usually into and out of a telephone. The link is achieved through converting electric signals from the phone line to sound a ...

type

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

were among the hacking tools used by the main character in the 1983 movie ''

WarGames ''WarGames'' is a 1983 American science fiction techno-thriller film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film, which stars Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Ally Sheedy, follow ...

''. The 2011 novel ''

Ready Player One ''Ready Player One'' is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author Ernest Cline. The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality gam ...

'' by

Ernest Cline Ernest Christy Cline (born March 29, 1972) is an American science fiction novelist, slam poet, and screenwriter. He wrote the novels '' Ready Player One'', '' Armada'', and '' Ready Player Two'' and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation ...

features an IMSAI 8080 at the end, being the place where Wade "Parzival" Watts finds the easter egg that will grant control of the OASIS virtual reality to its finder.

History

VDP series

In popular culture

Further reading

References

External links