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Why S100 Worked As An Early Standard
- The S100 bus was a simple passive backplane that exposed CPU signals to plug-in cards for modular expansion.
- MITS' Altair used 100-pin edge connectors (only ~81 used) to let hobbyists add CPU, memory, and I/O cards cheaply.
Altair Turned A Radio Into A Speaker
- At a Homebrew demo an Altair placed near a radio produced a Beatles square wave because the unshielded S100 bus radiated signals.
- That radio incident convinced designers like Lee Felsenstein to add ground lines and rethink ribbon cable routing.
Hobbyist Cards Evolved Into Full S100 Computers
- Third parties like Processor Technology converted Altair parts into more complete computers like the S-100 based S-100 SAL 20 wedge with integrated keyboard and TV output.
- Hobbyists turned expansion cards into full systems, shifting the market from kits to finished machines.