While it can not be considered " the first personal computer, the Apple I has the honor of being one of the first systems to incorporate personal-serial-connection for a keyboard and a monitor. Designed and built by Steve Wozniak , this computer also included $ 666.66 4KB of RAM and a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at about 1 Mhz. Was presented publicly for the first time in April 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club , and to the birth of Apple Computer .
The world had changed. In the mid 1970's it was possible to purchase personal computers at a reasonable price. However, there was still a long way to go. Machines based on the S-100 bus, as the Altair 8800 or IMSAI 8080, few resources available "standard" (although its design allowed more in many ways) and its programming was done by a front panel consisting of keys and LEDs. A lot of people, but willing to spend several hundred dollars on a computer, this type of interface found it utterly incomprehensible. But I was about to happen another important change.
Wozniak and Jobs Bill Fernandez was a man of many friends. Introduced in 1971 together with two of them, both named "Steve." It was Steve Jobs , 16, and Steve Wozniak - "Woz" to his friends- 21. Wozniak had always felt drawn to consumer electronics and computers in particular, and those who knew him well, not many, knew from a very small circuits spent hours drawing on paper, trying to optimize the maximum. Such was his passion, all the time was teaching the rudiments of this science to kids, like Fernandez or his friend, from that moment, Steve Jobs. For months, Woz was devoted to designing a personal computer. It was not an easy task, and often had to backtrack and restart their work. However, their efforts were crowned with success, and after his friend Steve sell his truck and its HP programmable calculator, provided the money needed to build a prototype computer that was designed. The machine was born the world later known as "Apple I ."
Wozniak was one of the characters who frequently visited the Homebrew Computer Club (HCC) in Palo Alto (California), a fraternity of computer users who served as a space for exchange ideas, programs and designs. When in April 1976 was ready your computer, chose the site for presentation in public. As was natural, HCC members were delighted with the invention of Woz. Was a computer that could be built for relatively little money, he did not need to use a terminal, which orders could be made using a keyboard, and, best of all, its creator was willing to share with them details of their design, so that all could be yours. However, Jobs only needed a few days to realize that behind the invention of his friend had an excellent business opportunity, and it was much better to sell among fans of the Homebrew Computer Club and digital electronics stores the computer ready for use.
To carry forward the idea of \u200b\u200bJobs needed money, because the chips that were operating the unit were expensive. With their resources they could assemble and sell some, and with the revenue to build some more. But soon they found dozens of orders in hand to their poor resources could not handle. It was indispensable to secure funding, and that's how Steve Jobs contacted Mike Markkula. Markkula was a young entrepreneur who had made much money with the shares of Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor, who knew the potential that the machine could be designed by the other Steve. So it was agreed to invest $ 250 in the project, and with that capital was born in 1976 "Apple Computer ."
The computer was not compared with those who came after, too powerful. But at that time was simply fantastic. For 666.66 dollars, the Apple 1 made available to the owner complete 4KB of RAM (expandable to 8KB internally, or up to 48KB with expansion cards made by others), 256 bytes of ROM in which is housed the operating system-in fact , a small program written in assembly language allowing the user to enter the program, and a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at about 1 Mhz. Unlike others, Apple Computer had a video output in which text was displayed in 24 rows of 40 characters. The system had a system of "vertical scroll" faster, implemented by hardware, and a connection for the keyboard. While other computers, such as Altair or IMSAI-had similar peripheral, you had to buy separate cards and costing hundreds of dollars.
The Apple I was commercially available between July 1976 and August 1977. Your price initial purchase was 666.66 dollars, determined by the $ 500 that sold them to distributors and 33% profit that they got for their sales. In addition, they say, Woz was attracted repeated digits, so all the six seemed a good number. Despite all its innovations, the Apple I was not yet a "personal computer" as those would be sold later on. The main board, which is housed some sixty integrated circuits, was delivered "naked", and you should give it an appropriate case, a power supply, a power switch, an ASCII keyboard, and screen composite video to serve as monitor. If you wanted to save your programs on tape, to avoid having to write every time you switched on your computer, you could buy a cassette interface for $ 75 extra.
The Apple I, as we shall see next week, was replaced by the Apple II, a machine introduced in April 1977 that far exceeded and that was a real bestseller. But during his short life is estimated to total about two hundred units were sold between 30 and 50 of which still exist. Obviously, the few available copies of Apple I are highly prized by collectors who paid fortunes for them. In 2010, for example, paid more than EUR 155 000 one , at auction at Christie's in London. The expansion included computer 8KB of RAM, manuals and a letter signed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were present in the room. I like Apple computers, despite their limitations, are the foundation of modern computing. Do not you think?
Source:
http://www.neoteo.com/retroinformatica-apple-i-1976.neo
0 comments:
Post a Comment