I just worked on the coolest Apple-1.
This is a board that shows no signs of major rework but almost every decrete part including sockets on both the board and ACI are different than every other board I have ever seen in person or in pictures. The board is original and not a replica pre-NTI board but with multi-layer decouping caps. The sockets on the board are wave soldered RN sockets and there is no sign they have been replaced. It also never appears to have had the socket at C1 for the 7404 ever installed. There doesn't seem to be a sign of desoldering. The ACI also has RN sockets.
I asked Woz and he doesn’t remember any blank boards being sold. With some help from Dan Kottke who recognizing his handwriting on a cassette tape included in the set, combined with the dates on the soldered parts, it looks like it’s from July or August 1976.
The regulators look hand soldered and with the undersized heat sink on the LM323k made the screws which were inserted upside down and the heat “erupted” the board silvering around the screw heads. It also appears someone was playing around with the timing circuit and made it variable and did some work on trying to get cleaner -5v to the DRAMs. The edge connector also appears hand soldered since it had some legs bent to hold it in place when it was soldered. It also is a different part number from Cinch that other Apple-1 used. It also has silver 2400uf caps which are date correct and don’t appear replaced. I actually wrote up a document for the owner on everything that differentiates this board from other Apple-1s.
The documentation set included with this was also awesome, it had not only the Operations, Basic and ACI manuals but has a copy of the original Apple-1 Advertisement and full-size ACI and board schematics on archival paper so they are not even slightly yellowed.
Hello Corey986,
another very remarkable difference are the metal case 2504 shiftregisters.
It seems to be for sure that this was sold as a blank board and soldered by the customer himself.
Similar point is the fact that the "normal TO220 negativ voltage regulators" have not been used.....
Another very remarkable point : the "selection" switch to define the adressing range of the second
RAM bank ...- one position for the use with ACI and the E-Bank or the other position for the
"standard adressing" without ACI.....
Question: Did you also make some hires pictures and closeup pictures from the details and is there a chance
- if you made such pictures - to get some links to that kind of pictures in a period of time ?
very remarkable piece of history....
sincerely
speedyG
Oh there are a lot of non standard stuff like the regulators, diodes, resistors. I have documented it all and have pics.
I would have posted a lot of pics, but for some reason I can't upload them to fritter. I need to host them somewhere else first so I'll do that tomorrow.
Hello Corey,
that will be great....
maybe the uploading is limited by the size of the pictures at AF
( due to capacity of harddisk )
In such cases i upload the pictures to a dir in my own site and include
the display in text at AF by the use of the image tags....
At the other hand - if the picture size exceed width of 1200 pixels it
causes the thread to bust - and forces adding of horizontal scrolling....
sincerely
speedyG
This part stuck out for me the most...all Apple 1's were hand soldered, right? Someone must have gotten a spare blank PCB along the way.
Nope the Apple-1 were wave soldered, that's why the backs are bubbled. There are a few things that are hand soldered.
What Apple did in the garage (actually in the living room according to Dan Kottke) was insert the chips. In the garage they did some final soldering of some things like jumper wires and then put them in a burn box for testing.
Woz talks in an old 1980's video of how it only cost them something like $13 to get the boards wave soldered.
Cheers,
Corey
One more thing.
Trying to make it look like wave soldering is why people try to fill in the Vias on Mimeos with solder, but you can tell if it was done by hand or wave soldered, plus there is a distinctive shape to the soldering on the pins when it's wave soldered vs hand soldered.
The owner gave me permission to post a quick video I did after initially examining the board. This was before I did any additional research trying to figure out what was up with this board...
https://youtu.be/lYM200qlnA4
Corey,
Great Video!
Steven
Hello Corey986,
i'd like to add some text to my previous posting....
due to the problem of limiting picures at AF to maximum of 1200 pixel width
because of the horizontal scrollbar and at the other side the wish to grant
access to hires pictures:
In such cases i perform a task to make 2 sets of pictures and upload that pictures to my site:
1st set are the hires pictures named like:
pic01.jpg
pic02.jpg and so on with resolution of 3000 pixel width or more
2nd set are "reduced" pictures names like:
pic01sm.jpg
pic01sm.jpg and so on, indicating by the additional letters "sm" = small with resolution of only 1200 pixels width....
and i use inside AF the pictures from 2nd set and image tags for display in thread
and list links to the hires pictures as "normal" links in the text.
sincerely
speedyG
Hi Corey,
That certainly is an unusual Apple-1. I have to wonder whether it was a test board made before the board was mass assembled to check whether the PCB layout was good. That would explain the odd collection of components; it was probably made before the components were bulk ordered for the first run.
That may well be the very first Apple-1 PCB made.
Phil.
Corey Cohen, Apple I Whisperer.......
( feel the envy, in the room.. )
MarkO
Corey,
You need to see this!:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Early-1977-Apple-1-Computer-/282050295252?hash=item41ab81f5d4:g:8O0AAOSwBPNXR3ZI
Steven
I know, who do you think bid on it first
Not the best condition board, but it's an Apple-1 and I've seen worse condition boards sell for a heck of a lot of money. They won't get top dollar on eBay, but in about 9 days they will have $$$ vs an auction house that could take 9 months or 19 months to sell.
Cheers,
Corey
Corey,
You'll have to pardon my not knowing,
but where (if any) is the Serial Number
located on these boards?
II's and II+ units I have no problem. lol
Steven
No serial numbers...
Some of the byteshop boards have numbers written on them in security marker (not alcohol soluble) but most have nothing. We typically identify the boards based upon the minor differences between them, though the first 50 which, were built in a much closer time frame for the ByteShop's first order, are much closer to being identical except for changes the owners may have made post purchase.
One big thing with the Apple-1 boards is that we typically name them. So you have "Postman" or "Celebration" or "Huston-1". Why a board get's the name it has varies.
Cheers,
Corey
Hi Corey,
still waiting for some links to additional pictures.....
sigh.....
sincerely
speedyG
Hi Corey,
How likely is it that a unit like the one currently on ebay could be restored to working condition / reasonable appearance?
Speedy. I still have to put the pics somewhere. Worst case I'll email you some....
As for the unit on eBay, sure it can be made to run. The cut traces on the bottom can be professionally repaired. The holes drilled for the nylon standoffs in the proto area are cosmetic and won't affect the operation.
Cheers,
Corey
Corey and all,
The price is now up to $30k.
Steven
Hi,
Is it possible that the owner got only the motherboard, without components, and soldered them ?
Best regards,
Patrice Freney
The sockets were wave soldered on a machine. Not something the average person has access to.
Woz and Dan Kottke don't recall any blank boards being sold.
Cheers,
Corey
Hello to all AF-members,
Corey had a minor problem for a hoster for his pictures taken from that Apple-1.
Therefor i offered him to host his pictures in my site.
Within my own site that directory is hidden and i have not placed any links to that pictures within my site.
The pictures and links are only published here in this thread.
To complete legal issues here a important disclaimer to copyright:
All pictures here are owned by Corey Cohen - here mentioned as AF-member Corey986 !
you may not pick here any pictures and publish them in any other location or media without
previously asking here the member Corey986 for his permission to act in that way.
Any fault against this disclaimer is a violation of copyright laws.
Next i like to thank Corey986 for sharing this pictures with us.
Note: Due to limitation here at display i have placed here only the reduced pictures
limited to width of 1200 pixels. But below each picture is a direct link to the uncompressed
hires version of that picture for direct download and viewing for private use. The uncompressed
pictures vary in sizes between 2,5 MB and 5 MB.
That said .... enjoy the pictures:
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/DSC00072.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/DSC00103.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/DSC00109.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0765.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0767.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0769.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0770.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0771.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0772.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0773.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0775.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0798.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0801.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0807.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0808.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0811.jpg
http://www.appleii-box.de/Corey/IMG_0823.jpg
sincerely
speedyG
Wicked cool!