How did the front switches operate on early Altair and similar computers?

[wolfpup]

All this talk about lights and switches and computer history reminds me that I started a thread some time ago about an enterprising geek who makes working replica consoles of the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11/70 minicomputers:

A great dose of nostalgia for DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 fans

This won’t mean much to most of you, but for us geeky old farts who grew up with the DEC PDP-8 and PDP-11 minicomputers, this could bring back memories of our joyous formative years! There’s this ingenious nut in Switzerland named Oscar Vermeulen (I use the term “nut” affectionately, to mean a devoted super-geek) who has been building kits that let you assemble the physical console of either a PDP-8/I or PDP-11/70. The PDP-8/I was circa 1969 and was one of the most popular models of the low-en…