On Fri, Aug 8, 2025 at 8:26 PM Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Manage to get myself somehow dragged into building Apple Is because I wanted a 6800 version. That was the start of trouble! So I bought 2 bare PCBs and planned to build a 6502 and 6800 version. Had I done some research before hand I would have found I could have bought many vintage computers for the price of the various parts of the Apple I and we're not talking date correct parts just the necessary parts.
Indeed. I bought a bare board some years ago (from Corey) and have been working on gathering parts but the prices for the rare chips keep the project on a very slow burn. I was never going for date-code accurate and I'm willing to accept substitutions but those goofy shift registers are just insane.
But at the same time I happened on an unloved more than complet Apple I reproduction that wasn't running. So I bid and won at a more than reasonable price, half as much as a working complete reproduction and less than buying the parts.
Excellent find. I would definitely have done the same.
Well I diagnosed the bad chip, a 2519 ($70+).
Ouch! At least there is a modern work-alike (and the board runs fine with a much newer 6502 since ceramic ones are $$$$$)
I used a replacement board with parts that are available and I now can program like it was 1976. :-)
I threw some quick photos up on:
https://ushomeautomation.com/Projects/Vintage/Apple1/index.html
Very nice! -ethan