A computer you can operate one byte at a time. Then flip the switch to a fictional 1983 and follow the signal to Joshua.
Executable 8080 CPU64 KiB RAMEntirely in your browser
WORKBENCH SELECTOR1975 · THE MACHINE
IMSAI 8080MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEM
STOP
STATUS INTE 0 · HLTA 0 · IN 0 · OUT 0
DATA
ADDRESS
ADDRESS / DATA INPUT UP = 1 · DOWN = 0
IMS ASSOCIATES, INC.INDEPENDENT MUSEUM RECONSTRUCTION
Start here: load HELLO, then press RUN. Or use STEP to execute one instruction.
SERIAL TERMINAL / PORT 01
IMSAI SERIAL MONITOR
> Load an original demo below.
VIDEO DISPLAY
SOFTWARE / ORIGINAL DEMOS
Give the lights a reason.
Loading a program clears RAM and CPU state. HELLO prints a greeting and halts.
Enter your own machine code
Example: MVI A,2Ah · STA 0200h · HLT. After RUN, RAM 0200 contains 42.
Memory window
1983 / ANOTHER KIND OF CONNECTION
The line is yours.
Three fictional applications. One local workstation. Every record, reservation and conversation disappears when this page reloads.
CEDAR GROVE / STUDENT RECORDSLOCAL / 1200 BAUD
CEDAR GROVE / SCHOOL RECORDS
Invented students. Demo credentials: visitor / demo. US letter grades A–F (E not used).
CHANGE REVIEW
NEBULA AIR / RESERVATION SYSTEM
Fictional airports and flights. No real ticket is issued. Seats are temporary local records.
Choose a free seat. Occupied seats are unavailable.
YOUR LOCAL RESERVATIONS
Fictional modem loopback. Nothing is dialed. Responses are authored, not generated.
VIDEO DISPLAY / FICTIONAL SYSTEMS
This cinematic bonus is separate from the 8080 interpreter. It is original browser code, not a recovered operating system or a connection to the existing WOPR service.
The IMSAI 8080 was introduced in 1975, closely following the MITS Altair 8800. Both helped make the expandable microcomputer a practical proposition for enthusiasts. The front-panel switches exposed memory and machine instructions directly; a keyboard, terminal and disk system were additional equipment, not software hidden inside the panel.
Intel’s 8080 is an 8-bit processor with a 16-bit address space. Here you can inspect its seven 8-bit registers, flags, stack and 64 KiB memory. The famous blue terminal exchanges belong to the fictional world of WarGames (1983). IMSAI’s own production history documents supplying the computer, disk drives, keyboard and monitor for the film.
What this emulator does
The original interpreter implements the documented Intel 8080 instruction set, flag arithmetic, stack operations, 16-bit wrapping, interrupt enable delay and nominal instruction cycle counts. Single-step is one whole instruction. The LEDs sample the inspected address, memory byte and CPU state; they are not an electrical bus trace.
This is not a cycle-exact IMSAI system emulator. The serial ports are museum conventions. There is no S-100 bus timing, original UART, floppy controller, ROM, CP/M, IMDOS, peripheral interrupt source or audio. Browser timing is intentionally throttled; the counter demo stops after a bounded run. No external CPU diagnostic suite is claimed as passed.
School records teach reversible edits; reservations demonstrate state and availability. Joshua combines a curated chess study, a full Tic-Tac-Toe game-tree search and an explicitly authored escalation model. Its conclusion is a narrative lesson, not a real military forecast. All people, telephone numbers, destinations and strategic sectors in these applications are invented.
Independent educational reconstruction. No film frames, film audio, proprietary binaries or original software are distributed. Brief film references and names identify the cultural context; this exhibit is not affiliated with Intel, IMSAI or the film’s rights holders.