The Apple-1 computer

The visit remains a vivid memory. We talked for a long time, and later there was an invitation to the Luthers' home for Halloween, where this American tradition of visiting neighbors was experienced for the first time.
Bob later mentioned another collector, David G. Larsen, who runs a museum and owns some of the rarest computers, including three original Apple-1s. A phone call followed, and he invited me to Floyd, Virginia. This was a wonderful coincidence, because a Mustang Convertible had been rented and the Blue Mountains were already part of the travel plans.
I spent the night at David's house, and in the evening he offered his entire collection. Unfortunately, the decision came too slowly, and Lonnie Mimms from Georgia bought everything except two Apple-1s. One of these Apple-1s was later acquired from David, and contact continued for many years afterwards.
My first Apple-1 has been on loan to the Deutsches Museum in Munich since November 2017.

The second Apple-1 was bought at auction before David Larsen's Apple-1 joined the collection. At an auction in Germany in 2017, an Apple-1 was offered by an American seller. The visit to the auction was originally out of curiosity and to buy a rocket engine, so a bidding card was already at hand. When the Apple-1 came up, the starting bid was low, and no further bids seemed to follow. When the auctioneer called “going once, going twice,” my bidding card was raised. The auction continued for what felt like an eternity, and apparently no one got through by phone or online, so the lot was won. Reporters immediately gathered around. That was the end of the “secret” collection. From then on, the decision was made to speak more or less publicly about the collection and to publish information about it. This ultimately led to many, many contacts and unique offers. At this auction, another collector from Germany and another from Austria were met, and contact with both continues to this day.

Over time, more Apple-1s were added, and many of them are connected with wonderful memories.

The Apple-1 in the original Byte Shop case came from a man in the Bay Area through the mediation of a woman from Italy who looked after an Italian collection of vintage computers. Several years passed before, through this mediation, the owner was met in the Bay Area and an agreement was reached.

Another very special occasion was the purchase of an Apple-1 that Steve Jobs had personally given to his former best childhood friend, together with another Apple-1. The two boys travelled through the Bay Area in a white and green VW bus, and I had the great pleasure of being picked up from Los Angeles airport by this childhood friend in the original famous VW bus from the 70s. Later, his second Apple-1 also joined the collection.

The acquisition of the Burr Apple-1 in 2019 is a particularly fond memory. At first, contact was exclusively by email and telephone. The owner had owned Computerland, and he too was looking for someone who would appreciate both the history and the computer. The computer was sent to Germany, and it was only two years later that the couple could be met in person. At the time, it became a very warm and pleasant contact.

The most moving story of an Apple-1 purchase, however, was undoubtedly the so-called Scardino Apple-1. A request came in to add an Apple-1 to the Apple-1 Registry. It was an heirloom from a father to his children, and an appraisal was needed. The family was very kind and sympathetic, and during a Zoom call the appraisal was offered free of charge. A few months passed, and then the family asked whether there would be interest in the Apple-1. And how! This Apple-1 has a fabulous history and is the only manually soldered Apple-1 known to date. All the others were produced by machine using the so-called wave-soldering process. An Apple-1 like this is not for collectors who want a shiny computer that looks as if it had just left the factory production line, but for enthusiasts who appreciate its remarkable history. It became part of my Apple-1 collection.

The Apple-1 was neither the first computer nor the first microcomputer, but it was unique in many respects and marked the beginning of a new era. Steve Jobs might have said that this device made a dent in the universe. Who could have imagined at the time that a young engineer with his home-built computer would lay the foundation for a corporate empire?

Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the Apple-1 computer, was one of many young developers of the 1970s. Before the Apple-1, he had already built a computer with discrete circuitry, which, however, failed spectacularly at its first demonstration when a journalist stumbled over the computer’s power cord.

In the 1970s, everything needed to build a personal computer was available, and the world was simply waiting for a resourceful mind to put it all together into an affordable computer.

Many fortunate coincidences and special circumstances made Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs so successful. With the Apple II, Apple achieved unprecedented success among end customers. Later turbulence and a possible downfall were averted by products such as the iPhone, and today Apple is one of the most valuable IT companies in the world.

The book Accidental Empire contains many fascinating stories.

Wozniak came into contact with microprocessors as a guest at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Intel 8080 was too expensive for him, so he initially focused on the Motorola 6800. Later, the club presented a fabulously inexpensive processor, the 6502. Its low price became a decisive factor in the continuing history of Apple computers.

The history of computers might have taken a completely different course if the choice had been the Intel 8080 processor, which was preferred by many developers.

The inexpensive processor was a decisive step toward success and high yield.

Wozniak was able to obtain many components from his employer, HP, and he received the new DRAM memory as a free sample from Intel. Steve Jobs had obtained those samples through a phone call. Wozniak had previously relied on the usual SRAM.

It is also astonishing that Steve Wozniak offered the Apple-1 to his then employer, HP, but it was rejected. The young developer also showed the Apple-1 to all members of the Homebrew Computer Club, including its exact structure and the source code of his PROMs, which made it possible to control the computer easily. He even gave members the schematics of the Apple-1.

The members of the Homebrew Computer Club became the who’s who of the young computer industry, the nucleus of Silicon Valley. The initial 30 members quickly grew to more than 500.

Steve Jobs worked for Atari at the time. The two Steves became friends. Wozniak developed the game Breakout and recognized the future of computer games early on. Until then, games had been hard-wired circuits. Microprocessors, however, could load any software.

Even before the Apple-1, there were many home-built and commercial computers to which a keyboard and monitor could be connected directly, or which already had these components installed. There were not only computers like the Altair 8800, but most of them were expensive.

When Processor Technology’s SOL-20 came onto the market in 1976, the story seemed to have been decided. This computer, based on Intel’s 8080, was a success with its performance, expandability, keyboard, monitor connection and very stylish case.

But things turned out differently. Shortly after the release and sale of the Apple-1, Wozniak was already working on the Apple II, which later became the best-selling computer. But that is another story...

The Apple-1 was first presented in the Computer Club on March 1st, 1976. Wozniak was 25 and Jobs was 21 years old.

The Apple-1 had many peculiarities that made it interesting. The real achievement, however, is that this first commercial work laid the foundation for the Apple II, which Steve Wozniak developed shortly afterward.

The beginning of Apple sounds like a fairytale. It is hard to believe that the two Steves had to sell a pocket calculator and a VW bus just to cover the initial costs.

Many urban myths surround the Apple-1 and the beginnings of Apple. An almost infinite amount of false information exists and is spread throughout the Internet, and much of it is considered true.

Just to give another example of urban myths: the Macintosh. Many people believe that this computer was the work of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs managed the Macintosh team for a time and introduced the Macintosh to the public for the first time, but this computer was developed by a team at Apple. The basic idea of the Macintosh came from Jef Raskin, and he deserves the recognition that, unfortunately, was withheld from him throughout his life. However, he is only one of its fathers, as the Macintosh changed fundamentally over time. And the name Macintosh? The name also goes back to Jef Raskin, whose favourite apple variety was the McIntosh.

Anyone interested in Apple, Steve Jobs or computer history will find sufficient literature available.

One could say that without Steve Wozniak, Apple would not have existed, and without Steve Jobs, Apple might have sunk into insignificance or perhaps gone bankrupt.

Today, there are many early computers that are much rarer than an Apple-1, but only a few are comparable in value.

Apple-1 owners are often museums or private collectors. Some collect them out of enthusiasm and to preserve the devices; others see them as investments or exhibition objects.

The collectors and preservers of the last Apple-1 computers decide how much they are willing to pay for them. The question of whether a price is justified should be as meaningless here as it is in other collecting fields. For rare cars and works of art, prices are paid that are incomprehensible to many outsiders. The market, however, determines the value. Most people would pay sums for certain objects that would be incomprehensible to others.

Unfortunately, many historically valuable computers have been lost over time. Often, such computers served merely as sources of raw materials and were “melted down” to extract gold and other valuable materials. Imagine thousands of early automobiles being melted down just to recover a few tons of metal.

Many Apple-1 computers were probably thrown away, which was not unusual at the time. Many early personal computers were discarded because they had become obsolete. No particular historical or monetary value was seen in them. Other computers from this era are still available for prices below €500. Only a few later acquired significant value as physical artifacts.

Few people have any idea how modest the beginnings of the personal computer were, and many can hardly believe that this loose circuit board was actually the first Apple computer. Even though today’s computers often appear just as modest when removed from their cases, modern technology is, of course, light years ahead.

The Apple-1 was produced in two batches, the second by a different mainboard manufacturer. The oldest computers, the group to which the Copson Apple-1 belongs, were built around April 1976. The second batch has a rhombic logo with the letters NTI inside.

The mainboard layout was created by a professional, again through the contacts available at the time.

There are different statements as to whether the first 50 mainboards were already populated with components. In his autobiography iWoz, however, Steve Wozniak writes that the mainboards were delivered already soldered with all components except the chips. The soldering work on the Apple-1 also clearly indicates industrial production.

The mainboards were fitted with the chips by Daniel Kottke, a friend of Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs’s sister Patty. They received US$1.00 for each motherboard.

A famous picture shows boxes of Apple-1 computers in Patty’s room.

The boards were tested in the garage, and Steve Wozniak took care of all the computers that did not work. When a few units were ready, Steve Jobs immediately drove them to The Byte Shop and received cash in hand. Later, both Steves drove through California and sold individual units to a few computer shops.

The Apple-1 has some remarkable features. DRAM was used instead of the more common static RAM. DRAM was newer and more complicated to use, but much cheaper.

In the so-called PROMs, Wozniak managed to integrate a small program of only 256 bytes, which enabled keyboard operation. The memory was 8 KB, offering enough space for BASIC and programs. An expansion slot was used for the cassette interface. The 6502 CPU ran at 1 MHz.

The individual components, such as the chips, are not necessarily the same on all Apple-1 computers, and over time many of them have been replaced. The Apple-1 was definitely a device for inventors and home users. Steve Wozniak had provided an area on the motherboard that could be used for extensions and modifications. Many owners took advantage of this and soldered additions to their Apple-1, which does not make them any less original, as these owners followed the obvious purpose of a rather experimental computer. Some Apple-1 computers were later rebuilt by subsequent owners to make them appear more original. Ultimately, it depends on the owner to decide what is original. In my view, a modification made by the first owner is not a falsification, but makes the device even more unique. The degree to which the replacement of components makes a computer no longer “original” should remain an academic point of discussion.

The Apple-1 was delivered as a pure computer board, without a case or peripherals. It was a device for inventors and for home use.

An interface for tape recorders was optionally available for US$75 and was plugged into the free slot. BASIC programs and games were available on cassettes. Anyone who wanted to use other applications had to program them. It was not a computer for the mass market.

This cassette interface was also developed by Wozniak.

Loading programs from a tape recorder could be quite tedious. The data transfer was not particularly reliable. Only later was it discovered that replacing a 10nF capacitor with a 100nF capacitor resulted in considerably better connection characteristics.

A standard television set was sufficient as a monitor.

50 Apple-1 computers were sold by The Byte Shop, a computer shop opened in December 1975 in the Bay Area by Paul Terrell. Paul Terrell met the two Steves at the Homebrew Computer Club, and Steve Jobs offered him the Apple-1. Paul Terrell was visionary and wanted to offer a fully assembled computer for little money. Only later did Paul Terrell realize that, in Steve Jobs’s eyes, a complete computer meant the assembled board. Keyboard, cassette interface and tape recorder had to be bought separately.

This kind of complete computer came a little later with the Apple II, which caused a sensation after the SOL-20 from Processor Technology.