Hi Marcus, There are a number of easy ways to tell.To start with, I have put a small smilely face logo on the back of the board, in the corner near the power connector, just for this purpose. Checking this corner for this smiley face will absolutely determine whether you have one of my replicas or not.
For those who don't have access to the back of the board, I have some additional tips.
A newly minted replica will appear brand new and any 30 year old original will definately have some patena. This would be obvious in person, but might be harder to detect via web pictures. Check for corrosion on the RF connector. Also vias and metal components on old boards don't appear as shiney as on new boards.
Another easy way, is to check date codes of the ICs. A replica will have later date codes for majority of parts. RAM or ROM could have been replaced on an original, so check the 74 series parts, the vast majority should be dated 1977 or early 1978 on an original.
The power, video and speakers connectors that I currently provide are red or white in color, while Apple used black and red. Keep in mind, that a shrewd kit builder could try to find the right color connectors to build his kit with.
Regards, Mike Willegal PSI've been watching for rev0 sales on ebay, and if I noticed a replica being misrepresented, I would be sure to notify this newgroup.
heuser.marcus@freenet.de wrote:
On May 16, 1:34 pm, Mike Willegal <m...@willegal.net> wrote:At this point I have determined that lowering the cost of the kit in order to make it more affordable is more important than keeping the high quality sockets and green connectors. When current stock is sold, I am going to move to far less expensive solder tail sockets. I have also found some significantly lower cost edge connectors and am going to procure some samples. If samples prove to be usable for this application, the green ones will most likely become an added cost option or possibly, disappear entirely.Mike, I don't know if this has already been discussed (couldn't find it) but I have a question regarding the inexperienced buyer. Your replica board is from what I can see very faithful to an original board - it even has the Apple logo. Is it possible for a potential customer of a complete system to realize that he is buying / bidding on a replica? bye Marcus