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Godbout also sold components to [[Processor Technology]] for their 4K Static RAM board and serial / parallel interface board. [[Lee Felsenstein]] designed an Altair compatible video board that provided 16 lines of 64 upper and lower case characters on a black and white television. This $160 board became very popular and led to the Processor Technology [[Sol-20]] Computer in 1976.<ref name = "VDM-1">{{cite magazine | date = February 1976 | title = Introducing VDM-1|magazine= Popular Electronics | volume = 9 | issue = 2 | page =100}} Processor Technology Video Display advertisement. Features 16 lines, 64 characters, upper and lower case. $160</ref>
The [[IMSAI 8080]], the first "clone" of the Altair computer, was released in December 1975.<ref name = "ComputerLand">{{cite book | last = Littman | first = Jonathan | title = Once Upon a Time in ComputerLand: The Amazing, Billion-Dollar Tale of Bill Millard | publisher = Price Stern Sloan | date =1987 | page = 18 | ___location = Los Angeles | isbn = 0-89586-502-5 | url=https://archive.org/details/onceupontimeinco0000litt/ | url-access=registration }} "Later that day, December 16 [1975], United Parcel Service picked up the first shipment of 50 IMSAI computer kits for delivery to customers."</ref> It corrected many shortcomings of the original Altair 8800 by providing a larger power supply, a 22 slot motherboard, and easier wiring of the front panel. Ed Roberts reviewed the IMSAI in his April 1976 column in ''Computer Notes'', and agreed that the IMSAI was in some ways better than the original Altair. Roberts also pointed out that the new Altair 8800B was superior to the IMSAI 8080 and the upgraded Altair 8800A fixed the same issues that the IMSAI did.<ref name="CN April 197 p36">{{cite journal|last=Roberts |first=Ed |title=Ramblings from Ed Roberts |journal=Computer Notes |volume=1 |issue=11 |page=3 |publisher=MITS |___location=Albuquerque NM |date=April 1976 |url=http://startup.nmnaturalhistory.org/gallery/notesViewer.php?ii=76_4&p=3 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323162008/http://startup.nmnaturalhistory.org/gallery/notesViewer.php?ii=76_4&p=3 |archive-date=March 23, 2012 }}</ref>
Altair computers were only available from the 20 or so authorized Altair computer dealers, but the IMSAI 8080, Processor Technology Sol and many other clones were sold by hundreds of newly opening computer stores.
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