Apple 1
The Apple Computer 1 was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The idea of selling the computer came from Wozniak’s friend Steve Jobs. The Apple I was Apple’s first product. Woz demonstrated the first prototype in July 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California.
The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 at a price of US$666.66 because Woz likes repeating digits.
The Apple I’s built-in computer terminal circuitry was distinctive. All one needed was a keyboard and a television set. Competing machines such as the Altair 8800 generally were programmed with front-mounted toggle switches and used indicator lights (red LEDs, most commonly) for output, and had to be extended with separate hardware to allow connection to a computer terminal or a teletypewriter machine. This made the Apple I an innovative machine for its day.
As Woz was the only person who could answer most customer support questions about the computer, the company offered Apple I owners discounts and trade-ins for Apple IIs to persuade them to return their computers. These recovered boards were then destroyed by Apple, contributing to their rarity today.
Production was discontinued in 1977 with the introduction of its successor, the Apple II.
The board shown here is the Mimeo which is an exact replica of the Apple I. This board was completed in early 2019 after a couple of weeks of construction. Most of the parts were in my extra parts collection and all of the parts are date correct. The 6502 CPU is a very rare White Ceramic MOS 6502 with date code 50th week of 1976 and the 6820 was 26st week of 1975.
*Some material cited from Wikipedia.