
and yes, it runs 4k BASIC:

One more of the rat's nest:

That's 50 feet of wire.
When it turns on, the PIC loads the bootloader into RAM, and reads it back and outputs it with the 6850. It's using the 8085 HOLD input to do the DMA. This PIC has a "Parallel Slave Port" which is a microprocessor interface port, with it's own RD, WR and CS so it can communicate asynchronously with the microprocessor. I use this for the switch register. The PIC loads the value for the sense switches, then releases the HOLD and RESET for the 8085 and the 8085 takes over the RAM and the 6850 and starts running.
Of course it's not really an Altair without real lights and switches and the ability to single step, set the program counter, etc.
But at least we know for sure that the 8085 can run BASIC.
The photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/36481716@N06/