[coldpie]

> so you had to bootstrap programs with dip switches and the like

For more on this, check out this amazing series of videos from deramp5113 about the Altair 8800: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB3mwSROoJ4KLWM8KwK0c...

(Also available on archive.org: https://archive.org/search?query=altair+8800&sort=title&and%... )