4 ms·

I think you are referring to "Foot on the Hill" being played on that Altair 8800, which cunningly made use of the radio frequency interference/ static controlle

I think you are referring to "Foot on the Hill" being played on that Altair 8800, which cunningly made use of the radio frequency interference/ static controlled by the timing loops by the program - created by Steve Dompier . Bill Gates was confounded and astounded, and described it as, "the best demo program I've seen for the Altair…". He could not figure out how the computer could broadcast to the radio. You can read more about it here => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Letter_to_Hobbyists

braythwayt 9y ago
I seem to recall reading about this running on minicomputers or mainframes, as described in another reply, and I also think this predated the Altair, as I first became smitten with computers around 1972. Here's a video of a minicomputer generating AM radio music in 1971: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvSE5Z474c&lc=D5Mdy7u7CxwskML7wm06K0-_TEHfmrxPlonoX60N9Ho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvSE5Z474c&lc=D5Mdy7u7Cxwsk...
- univacky 9y ago
  I think that computer was built in 1971; the video mentions that the software used is Richard Wilson's player, which was written in 1975 (the DECUS entry is dated 2/11/1976).
univacky 9y ago
You can watch and listen to it on an Altair 8800b and get the octal object code for toggling into your own Altar here: => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgYhVnmeWrk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgYhVnmeWrk PDP-8 music here => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfx5H7ikA7Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfx5H7ikA7Y DECUS documentation entry for "PDP-8 MUSIC PLAYING PROGRAM" available on punch tape, 1976; written in assembly (PAL8) and fit in 4K words (12 bit word) of core memory. Worth a read. => http://www.pdp8online.com/miscdocs/DECUS/Decus%208-804_MUSIC-PlayingProgram.pdf http://www.pdp8online.com/miscdocs/DECUS/Decus%208-804_MUSIC...
digi_owl 9y ago
I am not 100%, but i could have sworn that Woz talked about other members of the club playing around with something similar the day him and Jobs went there to show of Woz's would-be Apple 1.

braythwayt 9y ago

I seem to recall reading about this running on minicomputers or mainframes, as described in another reply, and I also think this predated the Altair, as I first became smitten with computers around 1972. Here's a video of a minicomputer generating AM radio music in 1971: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvSE5Z474c&lc=D5Mdy7u7CxwskML7wm06K0-_TEHfmrxPlonoX60N9Ho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvSE5Z474c&lc=D5Mdy7u7Cxwsk...

univacky 9y ago
I think that computer was built in 1971; the video mentions that the software used is Richard Wilson's player, which was written in 1975 (the DECUS entry is dated 2/11/1976).

univacky 9y ago

You can watch and listen to it on an Altair 8800b and get the octal object code for toggling into your own Altar here: => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgYhVnmeWrk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgYhVnmeWrk PDP-8 music here => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfx5H7ikA7Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfx5H7ikA7Y DECUS documentation entry for "PDP-8 MUSIC PLAYING PROGRAM" available on punch tape, 1976; written in assembly (PAL8) and fit in 4K words (12 bit word) of core memory. Worth a read. => http://www.pdp8online.com/miscdocs/DECUS/Decus%208-804_MUSIC-PlayingProgram.pdf http://www.pdp8online.com/miscdocs/DECUS/Decus%208-804_MUSIC...

digi_owl 9y ago

I am not 100%, but i could have sworn that Woz talked about other members of the club playing around with something similar the day him and Jobs went there to show of Woz's would-be Apple 1.