Re: Want an Apple I workalike?

[blackm00@cam.org (Michael Black)]

mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon) wrote in message news:<20030908134856.19368.00000461@mb-m20.aol.com>...
> Scott Alfter wrote:
>
> >I think this project has been brought up before, but now it's more or less
> >finished and now available for purchase:
> >
> >http://www.vintagecomputer.tk/
> >
> >Wired has an article on the machine, dubbed Replica I:
> >
> >http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,60329,00.html
> >
> >The Replica I website's a bit sluggish...wonder why?
> >
> >
> >http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/08/1045210&mode=neste
>  d&tid=107&tid=137&tid=187
> >
> >Prices range from $100 for just the board and programmed logic on up to $200
> >for an assembled board.  It needs an AT power supply, a II+ keyboard or a
> >PS/2 keyboard, and a composite monitor to get up and running.
>
> I've been following this project, since I was interested to see if
> it would actually be completed.
>
> It's a curious thing.  It would not appeal to "collectors" since it is not
> physically like the Apple I.  And it would not have much appeal to
> "users" since there is so little to "use" about an Apple I--and that
> need could be better satisfied with an eumulator.
>
> It would seem to appeal to a special breed of folks who enjoy
> replicating old machines in modern technology, which I expect
> is a very small subset of "users" and "collectors".
>
> -michael
>
When someone started talking about it, I assumed someone was
making a circuit board (or wiring by hand) and using the same
ICs and design in the original.  When it turned out to be
only a workalike, I couldn't figure out the point.  I wouldn't
pay money for an Apple I, but if I stumbled across one
in a pile of junk for a few dollars, I'd grab it.  It is
a part of small computer history.  But if it's not the original,
and not even a direct copy, what's the point?

Obviously, the Apple II is doable from scratch.  The schematic
was printed in the manual, and all the parts are nice and
standard.  The Apple I wasn't around enough for much news
to trickle out, and I have no idea if it came with a schematic,
or the schematic was available.  I though I read in a description
a long time ago that the video circuitry was a variant on an
existing "TV Typewriter", and at least one early version published
of that used shift registers for the memory; hard and expensive
to get back then, and likely even harder now.  I can't imagine
any of the other parts being uncommon, but since I never saw
a schematic, I have no idea.

And making a homemade version of the Apple, I or II, has a certain
legitimacy.  I can imagine someone looking at the schematic back
then, and figuring out the price of the parts, and realizing that
if they put in the work, they could get an Apple for considerably
less.  (Someone once wrote about their copy of the KIM-1, and I
remember one really neat article in Kilobaud where someone wanted
to use the original TRS-80 BASIC ROMs, so they had to figure out
what hardware was needed, and modified their existing Z-80 system
so it would run the ROMs.)  I don't know if anyone ever did that.  But
given that premise, there is a certain authenticity to someone building
an exact copy.  Except for carbon dating (and likely date codes),
it would be basically the same thing whether someone did the building
25 years ago, or last week.

   Michael