Apple I. History - in detail and with photos.
Responding to the wish of karguine in the comments to my yesterday's topic Apple I or Mother of all Apple motherboards - a more detailed history of the creation of Apple I.
By 1975, microprocessors were already widespread - but there were no computers and software that would allow them to realize their potential.
The first widely available personal computer was Altair, which used an Intel 8080 processor. It was so primitive by today's standards that it didn’t even have built-in keyboard and monitor support. The user entered his program with 16 switches on the front panel, and the results were highlighted with flashing lights. It was possible to buy a teletype interface, but it was very expensive, slow and loud.
Apple was created because of the desire to provide users with truly convenient and affordable personal computers. The company was founded by two Californians, Steve Jobs (he was 21 then) and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak.
Jobs worked for Atari, the dominant video game maker at the time, and Steve Wozniak for Hewlett-Packard, which produced minicomputers and calculators (some of the calculators were as advanced as the first personal computers). The guys were friends. Wozniak helped Jobs in creating the most popular Atari video game Breakout.
Steve Wozniak has long wanted to have a personal computer, but the Motorola and Intel processors available at that time were too expensive. When the designers who left Motorola released the 6502 processor for just $ 20, which was eight times less than the price of the Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800, Wozniak immediately appreciated the opportunities that had opened.
He developed the BASIC language for 6502 and a simple computer for working with it. Jobs, impressed by what he saw, convinced Wozniak to bring the prototype to a computer that could be sold. Wozniak agreed. So was born Apple I.
Even before the version of the machine for sale was ready, Jobs told the computer about the computer to the owner of the Byte Shop Paul Terrelu. He appreciated the idea and made an order for 50 computers.
The Apple I was an extremely innovative machine. It was one of the first computers shipped assembled. It was only necessary to add a case, and the buyers of Paul Terrell received a case made to order by a local carpenter. Buyers of other computers usually had to collect them on their own.
The Apple I did not use the usual teletype terminal at the time. Instead, it included a TV interface, fast compared to displays on other personal computers that operated at 60 characters per second.
Apple I had one very big drawback - there was no way to store information. If you wrote a program of 3000 lines on BASIC, you had to re-enter it every time you turn on the computer.
Paul Terrell asked Wozniak to find a solution, and a solution was found. Wozniak designed an adapter that allowed the Apple I to use tape reels as memory. Terrell sold this adapter for $ 75 along with the Star Wars game written in BASIC.
The idea was interesting, but not very efficient, as for recording tapes that a computer could read, it was necessary to have a very high quality recording device.
The solution was again found by Steve Wozniak. The first floppy disk device was designed and assembled by hand in June 1978. It connected to the Apple II. But that's another story…
By 1975, microprocessors were already widespread - but there were no computers and software that would allow them to realize their potential.
The first widely available personal computer was Altair, which used an Intel 8080 processor. It was so primitive by today's standards that it didn’t even have built-in keyboard and monitor support. The user entered his program with 16 switches on the front panel, and the results were highlighted with flashing lights. It was possible to buy a teletype interface, but it was very expensive, slow and loud.
Apple was created because of the desire to provide users with truly convenient and affordable personal computers. The company was founded by two Californians, Steve Jobs (he was 21 then) and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak.
Jobs worked for Atari, the dominant video game maker at the time, and Steve Wozniak for Hewlett-Packard, which produced minicomputers and calculators (some of the calculators were as advanced as the first personal computers). The guys were friends. Wozniak helped Jobs in creating the most popular Atari video game Breakout.
Steve Wozniak has long wanted to have a personal computer, but the Motorola and Intel processors available at that time were too expensive. When the designers who left Motorola released the 6502 processor for just $ 20, which was eight times less than the price of the Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800, Wozniak immediately appreciated the opportunities that had opened.
He developed the BASIC language for 6502 and a simple computer for working with it. Jobs, impressed by what he saw, convinced Wozniak to bring the prototype to a computer that could be sold. Wozniak agreed. So was born Apple I.
Even before the version of the machine for sale was ready, Jobs told the computer about the computer to the owner of the Byte Shop Paul Terrelu. He appreciated the idea and made an order for 50 computers.
The Apple I was an extremely innovative machine. It was one of the first computers shipped assembled. It was only necessary to add a case, and the buyers of Paul Terrell received a case made to order by a local carpenter. Buyers of other computers usually had to collect them on their own.
The Apple I did not use the usual teletype terminal at the time. Instead, it included a TV interface, fast compared to displays on other personal computers that operated at 60 characters per second.
Apple I had one very big drawback - there was no way to store information. If you wrote a program of 3000 lines on BASIC, you had to re-enter it every time you turn on the computer.
Paul Terrell asked Wozniak to find a solution, and a solution was found. Wozniak designed an adapter that allowed the Apple I to use tape reels as memory. Terrell sold this adapter for $ 75 along with the Star Wars game written in BASIC.
The idea was interesting, but not very efficient, as for recording tapes that a computer could read, it was necessary to have a very high quality recording device.
The solution was again found by Steve Wozniak. The first floppy disk device was designed and assembled by hand in June 1978. It connected to the Apple II. But that's another story…
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31045/
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