January 16, 2026
Mint vs mighty micro
Altaid 8800
Mint-tin Altair vibes ignite a retro flame war: purists vs tinkerers
TLDR: A builder put a real 1970s 8080 chip and classic blinky lights into a pocket‑ish two‑board kit by solving the tricky multi‑voltage power problem. Comments clash over purity versus practicality, with Woz‑style power magic and the mint‑tin Z80 link fueling the retro drama.
The retro builder dared to shrink the legendary Altair 8800—and do it old‑school: vintage parts, real switches, and those hypnotic blinking lights. He’d already stuffed an RCA 1802 and a Z80 into Altoids tins, but the 8080 was the tough one: it needed three different power voltages and extra helper chips. The breakthrough? Split the design into two boards—put the actual 8080 chip front and center on the “front panel” so everyone can see it’s real, then move memory and input/output to a second board. It keeps that 1970s vibe while staying pocket‑ish and truly user‑programmable.
Then the comments lit up. One reader dropped a Z80 tin link like, “we’ve seen minty magic before,” while another invoked Steve Wozniak’s “power‑supply hijinks,” demanding answers on that three‑voltage headache. The strongest opinions? Purists sniff at any hint of “cheating” with modern parts; pragmatists cheer the tiny power converter and software‑driven front panel as clever and faithful enough. Jokes flew: Blinkenlights are “my therapy,” “shirt‑pocket Altair cosplay,” and “mint goes brrr.” The big drama: authenticity vs practicality—do you honor 1975 exactly, or make it work and keep the lights dancing? The crowd is split… and absolutely entertained.
Key Points
- •The project aims to build a pocket-sized, user-programmable 8080 microcomputer using vintage parts and through-hole techniques, with a front panel of switches and lights.
- •A previous 1802-based COSMAC Elf reproduction and a Z80 Membership Card kit demonstrated compact designs, but the 8080 required more support circuitry and three voltages.
- •A two-board solution was adopted: a CPU/front panel board with the 8080, support chips, and switch-mode supply, and a second board for memory and I/O.
- •Front panel control is implemented in software, influenced by the Heathkit H8, reducing parts and improving functionality.
- •The bus interface matches the Z80 Membership Card and is similar to the S-100 bus, enabling interchangeable and expandable cards across systems.