kurthamm wrote:I was watching a video on the Altair 8800 and the switches seemed to have these rather thick white plastic/rubber covers on them. This would have been a logical upgrade considering how small and thin the switches are.
Were these available when the Altair was sold? I wonder where one would find a suitable replacement for these little covers.
Kurt
Yes, we regularly put vinyl switch covers on. Not only did it allow us to visually group them by four for easier hex data entry, it also
was easier on the fingers when entering a long listing. Remember, many people didn't have a terminal and all programs and data had to be
entered via the front panel. The Altair 8800a and b had flat switches that were much easier on the fingers. You can still get switch covers at:
https://www.digikey.ca/products/en?pv234=48&FV=fff40011%2Cfff804a2&k=switch&mnonly=0&newproducts=0&ColumnSort=0&page=1&quantity=0&ptm=0&fid=0&pageSize=100