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As explained in the Apple-1 page there have been only 250 mainboards made
from the Apple-1 and that amount had been split in two runs, of
which the first
run consisted of 100 pieces ( later called the "preNTI-version ) and the
second run - which had been made by the NTI-company and that
models from the
second run have been called later the "NTI-version" of the Apple 1.
Allthough the layout of the leads and traces havenīt been changed in that
second run, the assembly and the used components did slightly
differ from the
earlier "preNTI-version". In main the decoupling capacitors on the second
run have been more modern multilayer capacitors, while in the
first run "old-
fashioned" ceramic disccapacitors have been used. Another change in
assembly had been, that the majority of the pre-NTI boards still
had been populated
with the white ceramic version of the 6502 CPU and the violett ceramic
version of the 6820 PIA while in the later NTI-version nearly
only the CPU and PIA
with the plastic-case had been used. And in the later NTI-version there
have been different kinds of small electrolytic capacitors used
( ones in yellow cases
instead of the blue cased ones that have been only used in the "pre-NTI
version".
Differences between "pre-NTI"
version Newton 1 and the "NTI"-version of the
Newton NTI board
if populated like original Apple-1
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"pre-NTI"
version Newton 1 |
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"NTI"-version of the
Newton NTI |
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ceramic CPU and
PIA |
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plastic CPU and PIA |
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ceramic disc
decoupling capacitors |
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multilayer ceramic decoupling
capacitors |
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blue electrolytic
capacitors |
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yellow electrolytic capacitors |
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a remark to the pictures
above: the different shades of green silkscreen on the boards is
partially also caused by dirt or bleaching of the sun !
But the very first remarkable difference to common users had been the
fact that NTI set itīs factory logo below the label from Apple
Computer - a diamond
square with the letters NTI inside of it.
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here the Newton-1
board without the NTI-logo |
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and here the Newton NTI board
with the NTI-logo |
The Newton1 is ( similar to
the
MIMEO ) an replication of the "pre-NTI version" of
the Apple-1 out from the first run. The reproduction of the
mainboard was
carried out by Michael Ng, who also runs a computer museum. In fact it
seems to ms that the manufacturing of the Newton1 was a reaction
to the fact that
after Mike Willegal had made his īfirst limited edition of the MIMEO (
which was also a reproduction of the pre-NTI version of the
Apple-1 ) and that boards
had been sold out after very short period of time and then for a long
period the community of Apple freaks had been quite a while
waiting - the Newton1
had been made to solve the still not completely satisfied complaints on
more replications of the Apple-1 mainboard.
Another reason was surely also that Michael Ng was experimenting / trying
to get a board "finish" with a coating getting closer to the
original by color and
surface. The Finish of the Newton-1 is a very little bit darker green
than the
MIMEO. This sounds simple, but it isnīt, because itīs
today very difficult to get a
solderingmask with same color as used in the mid seventies.... ao in very
tiny specific details the Newton1 is closer similar to the
original Apple-1 than the
MIMEO. But in the meantime after the last boards of the Newton-1 have
been sold out - itīs nowadays difficult to get "hands-on" one of
those boards.
Maybe some day in the future Michael Ng will raise another limited run of
that boards.
Just to tell this clear: All series of replication boards from the
Apple-1 have been made only in restricted and limited amount of
pieces ( some runs had 50
pieces like those from Michael Ng and others like the MIMEO ( now the
second run availiable ) from Mike Willegal have runs with about
only 100 units. So
even replications are still quite rare and there are quite some order
waiting lists for future runs. And among the replications there
is a wide spread of
authenticity. Specially if the user wants to populate the board with as
similar as possible parts the "true" facsimiles are rather rare.
In the meantime itīs
nearly impossible to get the TI-sockets used on the original boards and a
lot of other obsolete parts are also very difficult to get.
While waiting for the MIMEO board to arrive in October Michael NG
announced the release of a replication of the "NTI-version" of
the Apple-1.
I set myself on the waitinglist for that board an in December when
the
Newton NTI finally arrived i was surprized that i
also received a bare board
of the Newton1 ( which is the replication of the "preNTI-version of the
Apple-1 ) too.
A very close compare of the Newton1 to the MIMEO that i had
received in the meantime too ended up with the following
conclusions:
The "finish" of the Newton1 is quite a bit closer to the original
Apple-1 than the MIMEO. This surely results from the fact that
the MIMEO is
ordered from a large US-PCB company by Mike Willegal and the fact
that they didnīt try to "redo" the board in the "old-fashioned"
way.
The silkscreen and the green soldering stopmask covering is rather
modern and the green shade is darker than it was in the original
processing as well as the material used as basematerial. It seems
to me that Michael Ng had tried to find a manufacturer, who
really tried
to get similar shade of green of silkscreen and soldering stopmask
very close to the original. But this seems to be a result only
to be recognized
by insiders in very close examination and compare.
In fact while further progress
by assembling the Newton1 board happens i will add up pictures
documenting the assembly and focusing on such
slight differences.... in this
specific case because i have made for
the
Newton NTI and
the MIMEO transparent cases of
lexan i now intend to - at least
this time - make a case similar to the "old fashioned" ones made by
customers in those days and therefor furnish a wooden case out
of plywood....
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