WTB Uncle Bernie's Apple 1 chip kit

Wish I had bought several more...  going to be as valuable as gold in a few years...

softwarejanitor wrote:

Wish I had bought several more...  going to be as valuable as gold in a few years...

 

 

I considered getting more than one kit when I had a chance, but I kept myself to one, as the kits were nearing the end of stock anyway. I didn't want to hog an extra one just to do so, and I don't see myself building another full size replica. However, I really really enjoyed building the one that I did make. Sadly for those who never got to build one or wanted to build another, I think we can all agree that the UB IC kits being gone is going to make that much more difficult (and nevermind costly). 

Best of luck in your search OP, I can't blame you for trying. 

softwarejanitor wrote:

"Wish I had bought several more...  going to be as valuable as gold in a few years..."

Uncle Bernie comments:

Last time I looked, Unicorn Electronics is still offering some Apple-1 ICs and maybe even Apple-1 kits. Search the web for "Unicorn Electronics Apple-1" to find their website. The difference to my kits (which indeed are sold out) is that Unicorn does not test their ICs, so if you got a bad one, your Apple-1 build would need debugging, and the chances for the typical hobbyist to find the bad IC are slim to zero.

Also, Unicorn had a disclaimer that their kits don't contain the firmware ROMs. Which are essential for a build. I don't know why they could not offer those PROMs. Worries about copyright ? Woz gave me the permission to burn and sell his firmware within 1-2 weeks after I asked his "Team Woz" who handles his fan email. He also responded they are basically 'in the public domain' now, which means anyone can type in the listing from the manuals, and burn PROMs, and sell them. So it should be a non-issue. Except finding PROM blanks and having a 40-50 year old programmer who still can program them reliably. Most are out of calibration or defective, having aged electrolytic capacitors in their power supplies which can't provide the relatively high current pulses anymore needed to blow fuse links. Also beware that most PROMs sold on Alibaba by unscrupulous Chinese sellers are pulls and so they are programmed and useless.

About the "as valuable as gold" statement above, I don't think that this will become true, because one of my IC kits was ~8 Oz, depending on how many heavier CERDIP ICs it had, which is ~7.3 Troy Ounces, or, at the current paper gold price, ~13900 US$. Hmmm.

For the last few kits I sold on Ebay there were bizarre bidding wars. But despite some winning  bidders paid 2 x the starting price, they won't regret that purchase.

I was told that these kits easily can be resold at a gain. And a completed, well built Apple-1 clone certainly is worth north of $1000 even without a case. Armin sold his professionally produced, wave soldered Apple-1 for EUR $1444 (~ US$ 1580) on ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/295253858976) and if you consider the 20% VAT and the ~15% Ebay fees his net take is about $1145, very close to the $1000 I  claimed above. Mike "Newton" of newton-computer sells his Apple-1 clones built on his famous "Newton"  PCBs for $1950 on Ebay, but these include a completely assembled keyboard, which is tedious to build.

I think that well built Apple-1 clones always will retain their value and unless stupid heirs throw them out, they have the potential to become family heirlooms. After all, this was the computer which started APPLE (the corporation),  which for years has held onto its rank as the most valuable publicly traded company in the world (AAPL is the ticker name). As of Sept. 2, 2022, its market capitalization was $2.7 trillion. And this began with the Apple-1. The originals are priceless, so well built clones are the only examples the non-billionaire collectors or museums can afford. So there always will be a demand for them, as long as our technological civilisation exists.

I estimate that at the moment there are less than 1000 Apple-1 clones in the world. And due to my kits being sold out (and the stock of critical ICs dwinding or having moon prices) not many more will be built. In other words, don't expect that number to double. It just won't happen. "Maverick" builders who don't buy kits need years to find and buy all the parts, and there always seem to be some parts which are unobtainium. Happened to me with my microNOVA clone project. And my 32032 project. (I am not limited to the 6502).

One important observation I have made in the past years is that some people build absolutely awesome wooden enclosures for their Apple-1 clone, complete with keyboard and power supply. I highly recommend anyone who has built an Apple-1 clone to go for that, because such an enclosed example is worth much more than a naked PCB.  For techno geeks there is the option to put them into a plexiglass enclosure which you can hand to visitors to marvel at the electronics from all sides without risk of damage. But a "naked" PCB most likely will sustain damage over the decades (or centuries ?) and although it's convenient for working on the electronics, it's not the best way to preserve an Apple-1 clone over the time.

- Uncle Bernie

I agree with dear Uncle Bernie, debugging an Apple-1 replica is a real headache. Even known working components can behave very unpredictably in the aggressive Apple-1 environment. I went through all this just before fully tested kits were available on eBay. I was very jealous of the guys who could buy the kits ready to go.