Henry Edward Roberts died of pneumonia yesterday at the age of 68 years. He is known for having made the first computer was a commercial success in 1975, the Altair 8800, which used an Intel 8080.

Founder of MITS, Roberts started selling electronic kits for rockets aimed at devotees, but later pulled the sale of kits for electronic calculators. Once that market became too aggressive, he turned to the PC.

The Altair 8800 was available in kit form for $ 439 or $ 621 assembled. Sold by communication via the Popular Electronics, surpassed initial sales expectations largely Roberts, who thought to sell some hundred and ended up with over a thousand orders. Between January 1975 and May 1975, MITS Altair would have delivered 2 500 8800, he claimed.