10 interesting facts about Apple I history
On this day in 1975, Steve Wozniak tested the prototype of the first Apple-l computer. Below are 10 interesting facts from the history of the creation of this machine.
1. Woz built the very first prototype of the Apple-l computer using a Motorola 6800 CPU that cost $ 175. But when a team of former Motorola engineers released a MOS 6502 processor worth only $ 25, Steve adapted his system to work with a new, cheaper processor to make Apple-l more accessible to the end user.
2. The processor worked with a maximum frequency of only 1.023 MHz. Initially, it was equipped with RAM 4 KB, but it expanded to 8 KB, and if desired, to 48 KB. An optional cassette interface allowed the user to save program data. Cassettes were the forerunners of floppy disks.
3. Apple-1 was a computer that consisted of a single motherboard. About 60 chips were placed on it. This was a distinctive feature of Apple, since at that time computers were made up of many printed circuit boards.
4. Despite the fact that Apple-l was a fully assembled motherboard - that’s all that was supplied by the manufacturer. Users had to buy their own keyboard, monitor and cassette to connect and read / write data.
5. Woz added support for CRT TV to the Apple-l motherboard (at that time it was a fresh idea), and also added support for the keyboard and power source (the user had to buy all this himself, separately).
6. Steve Wozniak 5 times offered his own original design of the personal computer Apple-l to his former employer from Hewlett-Packard, but HP rejected his project.
7. Star Trek was released for the Apple-l platform on tape in 1977 and cost $ 5.
8. Steve Jobs was the one who could convince Woz to try to sell his computer. Woz assembled 200 units by hand, 175 of them were sold within a few months, which allowed Apple-1 to remain on the market.
9. The wholesale price of a computer was $ 500. The retail price was $ 666.66 - a funny number.
According to Steve Wozniak:
10. As of June 2015, only 66 Apple-1 units still exist, according to the Apple-1 Internet registry . Woz was the only Apple who could provide support for Apple-l. For this reason, in 1977, when Apple-II was released, all Apple-l users were given the opportunity to replace their current outdated platforms with more modern second versions. Most of the Apple-l was destroyed by the company itself.
1. Woz built the very first prototype of the Apple-l computer using a Motorola 6800 CPU that cost $ 175. But when a team of former Motorola engineers released a MOS 6502 processor worth only $ 25, Steve adapted his system to work with a new, cheaper processor to make Apple-l more accessible to the end user.
2. The processor worked with a maximum frequency of only 1.023 MHz. Initially, it was equipped with RAM 4 KB, but it expanded to 8 KB, and if desired, to 48 KB. An optional cassette interface allowed the user to save program data. Cassettes were the forerunners of floppy disks.
3. Apple-1 was a computer that consisted of a single motherboard. About 60 chips were placed on it. This was a distinctive feature of Apple, since at that time computers were made up of many printed circuit boards.
4. Despite the fact that Apple-l was a fully assembled motherboard - that’s all that was supplied by the manufacturer. Users had to buy their own keyboard, monitor and cassette to connect and read / write data.
5. Woz added support for CRT TV to the Apple-l motherboard (at that time it was a fresh idea), and also added support for the keyboard and power source (the user had to buy all this himself, separately).
6. Steve Wozniak 5 times offered his own original design of the personal computer Apple-l to his former employer from Hewlett-Packard, but HP rejected his project.
7. Star Trek was released for the Apple-l platform on tape in 1977 and cost $ 5.
8. Steve Jobs was the one who could convince Woz to try to sell his computer. Woz assembled 200 units by hand, 175 of them were sold within a few months, which allowed Apple-1 to remain on the market.
9. The wholesale price of a computer was $ 500. The retail price was $ 666.66 - a funny number.
According to Steve Wozniak:
Steve Jobs worked on sales and we agreed to make a wholesale price for $ 500 stores. What should be the retail price? It's simple - add one third of the wholesale cost. There was an amount of 666.67, but this 7 only interfered at the end and therefore we decided to replace it with 6. The whole cost consisted of a single digit, repeated several times. This figure was easier to remember and perceive. We did not think about the religious significance of this number.
10. As of June 2015, only 66 Apple-1 units still exist, according to the Apple-1 Internet registry . Woz was the only Apple who could provide support for Apple-l. For this reason, in 1977, when Apple-II was released, all Apple-l users were given the opportunity to replace their current outdated platforms with more modern second versions. Most of the Apple-l was destroyed by the company itself.