[GreenKeys] [External] Teletype model 33 sold by mits altair?

[Jones, Douglas W]

From:  Jeff Albrecht <jeffa at rodaw.com> -- Monday, September 29, 2025 12:05 PM

> I'm looking for ... ways to identify ASR 33 ... sold by Mits Altair for use with the Altair 8800.
> I'm wondering if they were shipped by Mits? What serial number ranges ... ?

I helped build an Altair 8800 with a serial number around 34.  It was purchased by the Medical Computing Lab at the U of Illinois, and spent much of its career as a protocol converter with 4 9600-             baud asynch serial lines (with XON/XOFF flow control) on one side and 4 parallel ports driving Magnavox Plato IV Student Terminals on the other side.  For info about the latter, see:
-- https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2430

We didn't buy a TTY for it, so I don't have quick answers to your question, but I note this:

By the time the 8800 hit the market, there were companies in the business of reconditioning and reselling used Model 33 teletypes.  The ASR 33 I currently maintain for the U of Iowa PDP-8 was probably built in 1964 (to judge by the low serial number and cast zamac pan); it has a sticker in it saying that it was remanufactured by Carterphone on 10/30/74.  I assume the U of Iowa bought it then from Carterphone as a second teletype for the PDP-8.  I just had it working today.

I'm sure Carterphone and their competitors were undercutting the price of new ASR 33s back then, and if I were MITS wanting to sell Teletypes to my customers, I'd have gone the low-price route and not purchased directly from Teletype.

             Doug Jones