Comter II
YEAR: 1975
ITEM: Peripheral Device
COMPANY: MITS
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes
The Comter II was a terminal (keyboard and "monitor") made for the Altair 8800 computer. Calling it a monitor is a bit deceptive by today's standards...you can see from the pictures that it was only capable of displaying a single line of text at a time (32 characters). However, at the back of the Comter II you can find a built in I/O (input/output) connection for a audio cassette tape player. That was one of the common ways to store your data back in 1975. That means you could save programs on an audio cassette and later play them back into your computer.
And it wasn't cheap!! In the April 1975 PRICE LIST the Comter II is listed as costing $920...that's about $300 MORE than the Altair 8800 computer which was listed as $621. If you had the skills and the courage, you could buy the Comter II as a kit and solder it together on your own. The kit only costs $780.
So why would someone pay so much for a keyboard and monitor? Because without one, the only way to program your Altair 8800 computer was to use the front panel switches on the computer to enter a program. Even simple programs might take hours to enter...being able to type in a program on a keyboard was light-years faster!
This Comter II came with documentation.
Related Items
Related Item 1: Comter II Manual
Documents
Documents for this item have not yet been scanned or not yet posted. There are a lot of pages...contact us if you have an immediate need. (Although there are not a lot of "immediate needs" for a 70+ year old computer!)
Exceedingly Rare
This is a bit of a guess. Other than the one in our collection, I know of one unassembled kit that was sold on Ebay in Dec. 2003, but do not know where it ended up. The Computer History Museum also has a Comter II terminal and keyboard. It looks like the Deramp collection has one also but it might be a CT-256.OUR DEFINITIONS OF RARITY
One of a Kind: Only known existing item.
Exceedingly Rare: Only 2 to 10 known to exist.
Very Rare: Only 11 to 25 are known to exist.
Rare: Only 26 to 50 are known to exist.
Difficult: Difficult to find.
Available:Can be commonly be purchased.
Unknown: We cannot make a determination.
(For comparison: Many people consider the Apple-1 computer to be rare. As of 2025 there are 92 confirmed and probable Apple-1 computers.)
We are still building. This feature will be ready by the end of December 2025.
CONNECT WITH US
Volunteers & Donors
-
Volunteers
Thanks to our volunteer Angels
Come join us in building our Museum!
We can always use your help. -
Interns
Variety of internships for University, Community College and High Schools students
