The S-100 bus, IEEE696-1983 (withdrawn), was an early
computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the
Altair 8800, generally considered today to be the first
personal computer (or at least the first "microcomputer", insofar as it was designed for hobbyists rather than the general public). The S-100 bus was the first industry standard bus for the
microcomputer industry. S-100 computers, consisting of processor and peripheral cards, were produced by a number of manufacturers. The S-100 bus formed the basis for homebrew computers whose builders (e.g., the
Homebrew Computer Club) implemented drivers for
CP/M and
MP/M. These S-100 microcomputers ran the gamut from hobbyist toy to small business workstation and were the
zenith of the microcomputer world until the advent of the
IBM PC (which some of them outperformed).
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