Apple 1 Registry Update

All the press about yet another record Apple 1 action has brought a few more original Apple 1’s to my attention. I have added a couple more to the registry, and updated some information on some that I knew about, but now have better information on.

I have heard about another machine, with a real interesting story, but am waiting for an image, before I add that one to the registry. Also it looks like the Ricket’s computer is now owned by Robert Luther ( Robert Luther’s Apple 1). I will update that next time around.

By the way, I did not tell anyone that the owner of the recently auctioned Apple 1 was Fred Hatfield, a former Boston Red Sox player who died in the late 90s. Since Fred contacted me a year or two ago, with information on his Apple 1, I knew that he was still alive and kicking and not a deceased baseball player. I sincerly hope that this mistake was someone else making a wrong assumption and the Breker’s forgetting where they heard it from.

I guess that is the way of the world, when the amount of money involved in transactions like this gets to ridiculous levels.

SCELBI page updated

I added some SCELBI comments from mid 70’s hobbyist magazines. Take a look.

I have a new version of the SCELBI/8008 OS/X emulator working that allows you to set the starting address after a reset, but I haven’t yet loaded it to the website. Hopefully I’ll get to that, this weekend.

More Apple 1 Fonts

In a previous post, I talked about how the lettering on the Apple 1 was probably done with a K&E Leroy system. However, I forgot to mention that the larger letters were not done with Leroy. Those letters were probably done with a Letraset or similar rub on transfer system. Take a close look at the Apple Computer 1 lettering, which is representative of the larger lettering seen throughout the board.

Apple1logo

Apple1logo

This lettering is in the general form of Helvetica, with subtle differences from most variations of Helvetica that you see today. Through extensive searching I found a very close match with Neue Haas Grotest Std Text 65 Medium. This is a recreated version of the predecessor to Helvetica. Check out this page with more information about this font.

Here is a recreation of the Apple Computer 1 lettering using this font. I think it would be hard to beat this match.

Replicated Apple Computer 1 logo

Replicated Apple Computer 1 logo


replicated Apple 1 copyright notice

replicated Apple 1 copyright notice

If someone has a Letraset catalog from the 70’s, it would be interesting to see if they can find a good match in one of those catalogs.

Visit to Kennesaw Mountain

The day after VCF east, I visited a couple of Civil War sites north of Atlanta. I already reported on my visit to Allatoona Pass.

After hiking around Allatoona, I drove south to Kennesaw and did the hike to the top of Kennesaw Mountain, which took about an hour. Kennesaw Mountain rises about 800 feet above the surrounding countryside. The view from the top is impressive. You can see from Atlanta in the south to Allatoona in the North, a span of something like 50 miles. Except for a few isloated Mountains, the country is of a gently rolling nature, much like eastern Massachusetts. It is no wonder that the few mountains played such a key role in the Civil War Campaign for Atlanta. The holders of those hills, had huge advantages of observation and communication. Here is a picture I took from the top of Kennesaw, looking north.

Looking north from Kennesaw

Looking north from Kennesaw

The other thing I noticed while hiking Kennesaw is that the main Confederate trench lines were located near the top. Certainly part of the reason for this is that the energy of any attackers would be reduced by the climb up to reach them. Certainly, making a successful attack against this position would have been very difficult. However another the thing to keep in mind is that the mountain is only about a mile long, part of a six mile long defensive line. Eventually Sherman was able to flank this line, like the ones before it.

How are the Apple 1 and Wonder Woman Comics alike

I recently received an email that indicated that the Apple 1 was most likely lettered with the Leroy lettering. That email has resulted in a lot of research and exploration of exactly what is Leroy lettering and was it really used for lettering the Apple 1 PCB.

First thing to figure out is what is the Leroy lettering system? It is a system to mechanically create lettering that was intended to generate legible lettering on a drafting table. Engineering documents, maps, architectural drawings and the like were the primary applications.

Here is an image of a K&E Leroy lettering set.

K&E Leroy Lettering Set

K&E Leroy Lettering Set

It’s easier to show how it works, than describe it. Here is an image of one set up to make a capital M. The scribe follows the letting in the ruler like jig and ink in the “pen” writes a pretty exact copy of that letter. There are a series of jigs for different sized letters. The scribe tool can be adjust to make the letters slanted in an italic type fashion.

Leroy Letterng Sytems Set Up

Leroy Letterng Sytems Set Up

So how do we determine whether this system was used to make the lettering for the Apple 1. The easiest way is to compare the lettering on an actual Apple 1 with an example we know was made with Leroy lettering System.

Apple1 Leroy Lettering

Apple1 Leroy Lettering compared to Apple 1

You can see that the newly created Leroy lettering (bottom) is nearly a perfect match to the Apple 1 (top), so I think that we can be pretty confident that the Apple 1 lettering was made with the Leroy or very similar lettering system.

My next question is whether the SCELBI front bezel was also lettered with the Leroy system.

Leroy and SCELBI Front Panel

Leroy and SCELBI Front Panel

Though the lettering is very close, there are some differences in the leg on the “R” and the “A” looks a little different. Also the ends of the strokes on the letters have nice square edges, which would not occur in a Leroy lettered system.

Finally, follow this link to see what Wonder Woman comic books have in common with the Apple 1.

Battlefield at Allatoona Pass, Georga

The day after Vintage Computer Festival Southeast, I spent some time north of Atlanta visiting some Battlefields. First I visited the Battlefield at Allatoona Pass. For numbers engaged, this is said to be the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. You can read a bit about the battle here.

The battlefield is now a very peaceful State Park. It is located about 20 miles north of Kennesaw about a mile or so off of I-75. Here is an image of the pass looking from North to South.

Allatoona Pass

Allatoona Pass

The next picture shows the initial position of the 12th Illinois, looking from the Confederate approaches. This position is a natural bastion and seems like it would be very difficult to attack. Indeed the attacks upon this position failed early on and were not pressed. The 12th Illinois later vacated this position and went to a more threatened position.

Position of 19th Indiana (at top of bluff)

Position of 19th Indiana (at top of bluff)

The most interesting thing I found about this battlefield is the state of preservation of the earthworks, most of which are extraordinary. I was a bit confused as to why the remaining defenses are mostly oriented to face an attack from the north. This is despite that fact that the Confederates surrounded this position and attacked from all sides. History say that there were south facing defenses, but none remain.

Later in day, I asked the ranger at Kennesaw Headquarters about this, and he thought for a minute and said that the reason is that these defenses were taken over from the Confederates, who had erected defenses here to stop Sherman from reaching Atlanta. However this doesn’t completely explain why the records indicate that there were south facing fortifications, that are now, nowhere to be seen. This is in direct contrast to the extraordinary condition of the north facing defenses.

I have been thinking about it off and on for a few weeks and have a possible explanation. The north facing defenses were probably constructed by the Confederates (probably slaves) and reused by the US troops. However, the US troops had to construct their own south facing defenses. Due to lack of time, energy and the likelihood that this position was only likely to be attacked by raiders, they constructed log breastworks from felled trees, instead of digging proper entrenchments. Those south facing wood breastworks constructed by US troops either rotted away or were burned as firewood by neighboring families and now leave little trace. Now this is pure conjecture, but it is the only way that I can rectify the historical record of an all around defense with remaining evidence.

There is one other thing that bothered me, when walking the ground. The trenches of the 4th Minnesota end at the sunken wagon road that passes across the hill. Between the 4th Minnesota and the 12th Illinois, was a gully that some Confederates used for cover when their attack failed. These Confederates were trapped in this gully and some 80 of them ended up surrendering at the close of the battle. However the trenches of the 4th Minnesota do not face this gully and the 12th Illinois left their positions to reinforce other positions after the Confederate attacks on them failed. So how did the 4th Minnesota maintain enough firepower to keep these Confederates pinned down in a gully that their trenches did not face. My conclusion, is that the left of the 4th Minnesota had to be refused and extended along the sunken wagon road, which directly overlooked the gully containing the trapped Confederates. Today, this sunken road is the perfect depth to act as an entrenchment. Another piece of pure conjecture, but it is the only possible explanation that makes sense to me.

Stay tuned, I’ll talk a bit about Kennesaw Mountain in a future post.

SCELBI TTY interface reproduction PCB – how much interest?

I have the layout for a reproduction SCELBI TTY PCB close to complete. This is essentially a TTL to current loop interface originally designed for interfacing the SCELBI to a Teletype. The board is about 4.5″ x 3.5″ with a connector on a .156 spaced edge for plugging into to an edge connector with solder tail pins. This is very similar to a “Vector” prototyping board. Schematics and a drawing are available on Cam’s SCELBI website.

http://www.scelbi.com/documentation.html

Here is a photo of an original SCELBI TTY interface board.

SCELBI TTY interface

SCELBI TTY interface

I’m not sure how many to make. I’m projecting a bare PCB price at $30 to $40, depending upon interest level. Let me know if you have interest in this board.

regards,
Mike W.

MAC 128K intermittent operation resolved.

In this series of earlier posts and I had posted some notes on acquisition and repair of an all original MAC 128k. One thing I didn’t mention is that the video on the machine was a bit intermittent. This has bugged me a bit and yesterday, I decided to figure out what was going on. The symptoms were intermittent video, either working normally, or completely black. Taking the machine apart, I determined that wiggling or touching the connector that leads from the digital to analog board could cause the video to go on or off.

Some websites and an old book, “Macintosh Upgrade and Repair Secrets”, say that this sort of problem is often due to bad solder joints on the connectors on the analog board. Following those directions, I pealed off the plastic cover and resoldered the joints on the analog board. However, this did not affect operation. Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I then touched up the joints on the connector on the digital board. Wiggling this connecter seemed to affect the problem, so I was kind of hopeful that resoldering that connector would do the trick. Sure enough, the intermittent operation seems to have disappeared once I resoldered those joints. Now, I just need to find some foam with adhesive on both sides to use, to put the plastic panel back over the analog board and I think I’ll be back in business.

I hope I don’t have any further issues, at least for a while. By the way, my opinion is that those connectors could have used a bit more solder in the first place, and this probably contributed to the issues.

This experience with a MAC 128k shows how even a lightly used old computer that is in excellent cosmetic condition, may need some work in order to get it running like it was new. I had three problems with this machine that needed addressing.

  • two bad memory chips
  • floppy drive needed cleaning and lubrication
  • bad solder joint on motherboard connector
  • Note that there are high voltages in this system and it should only be operated by experienced technicians when the cover is removed.