Question for the Woz on the choice of 2513 char gen....

On Oct 30, 2012, at 2:54 PM, John Calande  wrote:

Hi Woz,

I'm guessing the 2513 was a widely used character generator back in the day.  Was there any reason you chose this generator, or were other options available that you considered?

Best,

John

<<<

I think it was the main or only character generator at the time…or maybe it's just the one I came across…or maybe it's the one I'd used before…or maybe it was in our lab at HP…no real reason.

I was surprised to find out that using a character generator to put characters on a raster scanned TV was patented by RCA. I figured that using a chip you bought avoided patents like that.

ʞɐıuzoʍ ǝʌǝʇs 

ǝuoz ǝʞɐʍ sı ʌʇ

Corey Cohen's Apple-1 / Mimeo-1 donated to museum

Very nice job on this Mimeo-1.
Corey donated his unit to the March/InfoAge Museum.

Mike Willegal has received a new shipment of Mimeo-1 PCBs.

SWEET.... time for a hackfest!

Contact him @  :  mike@willegal.net

There is an unassembled Obtronix Reproduction kit  for sale on ebay

UPDATE:

"Newton 1" last breath... well.. we'll see...

According to the seller, these are the last of the "Newton 1" reproductions.   I don't own one, but have heard that the quality is fairly brittle. Price is steep.

Apple 1 color question for the Woz...

Hi Woz,

I was watching a video on one of your conferences on Apple history timeline up to the A2.

You mentioned tinkering with eventually adding color to the A1.

Did you find this too much of a task or waste of time for the A1, or did you just move on to the A2?

I'm asking because, I'm wondering if this would be possible on one of the clones, maybe one of us can mess around with.

Wondering if an old MC1372 would work....  I played around with the MC6847, straight-forward stuff - my results here:

http://homebrewcpu.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-is-mc6847-character-generator.html

Best,

John

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From the Woz...

I measured my designs by efficient use of chips.

The Apple I was designed around the U.S. (NTSC) color TV subcarrier frequency so that I could 'try' my digital color idea on it later. But when I went to start adding chips to do this it was about 7 chips alone for the basic timing (things like NTSC sync signals) and I saw that it would be more chips to generate color from my cycling text memory. I see now that it would have worked but thinking about this problem led me to incredible chip efficiencies and reductions of the Apple II. I don't have time to get into detail about it now but there were many other reasons to move to the Apple ][, the main one being the speed of character/graphics management moving from a shifting display memory to normal RAM.

best,

ʞɐıuzoʍ ǝʌǝʇs 

It doesn't work that way

-- Ariana Gilles, John and the Monster

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And followup -- From the Woz...

and somewhere in my files is my short exercise trying to design some color stuff for the Apple I but the Apple lawyers took all my working papers for a lawsuit and I never got them back.

ʞɐıuzoʍ ǝʌǝʇs 

Good stuff...   Here's the Woz....

Although this isn't exactly precise, it's a "nice to have" item for a clone.  I bought 2 of these on eslay for about 10 bucks each.  It includes the "PRELIMINARY APPLE BASIC USERS MANUAL  OCTOBER 1976" and schematics.   However... I did not see any documentation for the cassette interface :<

BTW.... don't leave these manuals in any light... they will fade to purple... as mine did.  

Signetics 2519B are on the way....


I was scolded for being so vague so here you go:

I've ordered a good handful of the ever elusive Signetics 2519B shift registers, allegedly with date codes from 1974-1976.  I do not have them on hand yet, but will post more info when I do.

FWIW, 2519N will work as well... if you can find them :D

Apple-1 fever - After last Friday's Sotheby's auction, apparently it's time to cash in if you own one.

Estimate:  100k - 150k

Up for auction at Christie's

Thanks for tipping me off on this one Corey!

Check it out, an Apple-1 clone, the Mimeo-1 made by Mike Willegal, sells on ebay for 2k+ (USD) yesterday --
Note, this unit was sold as an unassembled kit, but included the Stancor p-8667 and 8380 power supply transformers.

You may still be able to view the listing while it lasts.... here

I have no words.....

Here's a nice pic of the Sotheby's unit (iPhone pic courtesy of Corey Cohen who was lucky enough to check it out in person!)

So Sotheby's will be auctioning an Apple-1 tomorrow.   My friend Corey Cohen tipped me off on this link...   http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/47815031#47815031

Apparently, another Apple-1 was sold on ebay last week for 70k but I missed it (per Mike Willegal).

Apple Video Recalling the early days

Here's a youtube video with some nice pics of the first hand-wired Apple-1, and an Apple-2 prototype from 1977  (If I'm not mistaken, this Apple II was sold on ebay about a year ago).

Watch the video

Above: Stack of the Apple-1 white boxes, probably in Steve Jobs' room on Crist Drive.

UPDATE:  I was just informed by Cameron Cooper that this was actually Patti's room (Steve's sister) before they moved into the garage.  Info is from Daniel Kottke.

Below: Hand-wired Apple-1 computer.

Apple-1 BASIC firmware card youtube Demo

I finally got around to doing a video -- enjoy.

Apple-1 BASIC Firmware Card

View the Schematic

Another Apple 1 up for auction on ebay - 175,000.00 USD

This is one I believe most of us have not seen before.
This was previously owned by an Apple employee back in the 70s.

From the listing description:


"Original Apple 1 Computer made and purchased in 1976. A keyboard that was used with it will be included. Also a copy of the owners manual signed by Woz. Special courier delivery and payment
arrangements- contact by email through ebay. No shipping fee. Joe Copson Nameplate for viewing- not included in sale. will provide a copy of his resume with Apple if requested.
There is a serial number on the back of the computer 01-00##. In answer to all of your questions.
It is a real original Apple1 computer. Joseph Charles Copson worked for Atari and Apple as a programmer and troubleshooter. He worked with Michael Kisor who was a
Senior Software engineer with Apple- he collaborated with Joe on the diagnostic software for the Macintosh. Joe also worked on the Cray supercomputer. He loved technology and served his country in Vietnam which may have eventually caused his death from cancer 3-5-2003.

He wrote the program for Atari games such as Star Raider, Spitfire on the Silver 1.
Look up his name on google under atari age. I would like this Apple 1 cared for as an American Technological historical treasure. Not to be used but to be cared for. To remain in the United States. In that way it would truly honor Joseph Charles Copson Army USAR Control group- Fld Radio Mechanic 1971."

The Elusive 2519B 40 Bit Static Shift Register

I found this email rather amusing... arrived today in my inbox:

"Dear John,

You have received an offer from "Legacy Components ". 

.... snip ....

John,

This part is very old and worth more than your target now.  There is only 150 pcs in the world and the best price is $40 ea.  

*****------------------------------------------------------*****

2519B - signetics - 126 - $2 "

Nice 6800 white ceramic / gray trace chips

If I ever get around to building Mike Willegal's Mimeo-1 clone #2, then I will attempt using one of these bad-boys, instead of the 6502....  could be a fun and challenging project...  New Old Stock, never socketed.  As far as I know, these are fairly rare.   I've built 3 clones so far, so the next Mimeo will be my fourth.  Insanity?  I dunno... could be :D

BTW, Woz said that he had the design, but did not test the Apple-1 with a 6800 due to cost (this was a kit available from HP at the time), and also never wrote the 256 byte monitor for it.  I believe there is someone out there that recently wrote a 6800 monitor.  I'll post when I have more info (I think it was Mike Willegal that sent me a link a month ago or so...)

Apple-1 wooden case... was this a lapdesk?

I sent a question to the Woz, asking if the hand-wired Apple-1 case was from a lapdesk...  It sure does look like one to me....

UPDATE:  I heard back from the Woz, this case for the first Apple-1 was custom built by Randy Wigginton's father.  Woz does not know where this computer ended up, but the photo is precious to him.  He confirmed that this is indeed the first Apple-1 that he built. 

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nope, this is the one Randy's father made

ʞɐıuzoʍ ǝʌǝʇs 

ʌʇ ǝzıs ʍǝu ɐ ʞo

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On Nov 12, 2011, at 12:48 AM, John Calande wrote:

Woz,

Ok, my understanding was that Randy's father built the nicer looking brown case that is in the Smithsonian.  The Triumph of the Nerds documentary made it sound as if you put this first Apple 1 case together yourself.

thanks again,

John

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SECOND UPDATE:  I recall Woz telling me he thought this one *might* be in storage somewhere... so it may be that this one actually lives in the ground in Santa Clara  (think band-saws, bulldozers, and junk-yards).  :D

THIRD UPDATE:   I saw this some time ago.... I must be getting old...  I don't know of any other pictures of the first hand-wired Apple-1, although there must be a few.

watch this video

Thanks for your time Woz!

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

As one would expect on an Apple-1 blog ...

My friend Christine texted me the news that evening, as I was head down, wading in code all day long, I had no idea of Steve's passing...

"For the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself,  if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do, what I am about to do today?

And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row,  I know I need to change something."

-- Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford Commencement Speech

"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"

In Memory of Steve Jobs... (Really?)

ebay listings as found on October, 8, 2011

(I tried to work as fast as possible knowing these Buy It Now™ listings wouldn't last long...)