MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer, 1975
When adverts for this home-build kit were placed in hobbyist magazines the designers expected to sell a few hundred. But within weeks thousands were on order.
The 8800 has become a byword for the potential of cheap, user-customisable technologies to bloom into disruptive new trends. For example, the developers of this cheap 3D printer are using the 8800 as a model for their attempt to get the technology to take off.
The 8800 led directly to the rapid rise of personal computers in the years afterwards. This model is on display at the Computer History Museum, Silicon Valley.
(Image: Derrick Mealiffe/flickr)
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