Who remembers this iconic device? Who used it back in the day?
I’m a little too young to have had the fortune of being able to use, much less own, an Apple I, but we all know just how iconic this machine is. The Apple Museum tells its story best:
The Apple I was the result of the development efforts of Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ron Wayne. It was developed, not in a garage, but in the bedroom of Steve Wozniak’s home on 11161 Crist Drive in Los Altos (the house number was later changed to 2066). Steve Wozniak built the printed circuit-board, while Ron Wayne wrote the Apple-1 Operation Manual at his home. Steve Jobs did what he does best, advertising the Apple I to friends and family. They first previewed the Apple I in action during a May 1976 meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club. Paul Terell, the owner of the Byte Shop, the only computer store chain at the time, was impressed by what he saw and promised to buy 50 fully assembled computers for $500 each. As you can see, the machine was intended for hobbyist that would add ASCII keyboards and displays after buying the bare circuit board. It was not meant to be pre-built with fully-assembled displays and attachments. Jobs insisted it could be done and with the help of Woz, Bill Fernandez (who introduced Jobs to Woz) and Daniel Kottke (a friend of Jobs) they were able to build by hand all 50 of the motherboards on the second-to-last day before their loaned parts were due.
If you watched Jobs (the movie), you’re probably replaying the scenes in your head right now.
Anyhow, the core of the Apple I, it’s motherboard, is being auctioned by Bonhams.
The lot details:
Apple 1 Motherboard, with label “Apple Computer 1 / Palo Alto. Ca. Copyright 1976.” Includes circuit board with four rows A-D, and columns 1-18; MOS Technologies 6502 microprocessor, labeled MCS 6502 1576; keyboard interface and connector; 8K bytes RAM in 16-pin 4K memory chips; 4 power supplies including 3 capacitors; firmware in PROMS (A1, A2); low-profile sockets on all integrated circuits; inked “01-0070” on underside; heatsink; expansion connector; cassette board connector; and original cassette interface, labeled Apple 1 Cassette Interface Copyright 1976 with “G” lettered in triangle on reverse, overall approximately 15 x 9 x 2 1/2 inches, on four corner wooden pedestals.
And more, actually.
The most important thing, though, is that the Apple I motherboard is in “superb overall condition”, according to Corey Cohen, Apple-1 expert and member of the Board of Directors for Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists Museum at the InfoAge Science Center.
The downside…
The Apple I motherboard had the price tag of US$ 300,000 – 500,000, the final price depending on the highest bidder. So yeah, if you have half a million lying around, and you want a working Apple I motherboard, bid here.
Just because Apple and LEGO go together:
