First Apple... WOOD??

[yargyarg]

My big thrill when I visited the Smithsonian was the dizzying array of early calculators and computers. I should have allowed an entire day to devote to genuflecting before such sights as the enormous Eniac, Jerry Pournelle's very own Compupro 'Zeke II' , and (of course) the almost hippy-looking creation built in Jobs' garage, with its rough, hand-tooled, wooden cabinet. The "Apple" mark is routered into a vertical plaque on a case that (sadly) hides the board, but there it sits in its hermetic case, amidst other cybernetic brethren like the Altair 8800, Babbage devices, Radio Shack's TRS-80 and the Cipher Machines of WWII.

We couldn't LIVE without our extended keyboards, flat screens and killer apps, but on a blackboard behind the Smithsonian's early Apple is the handwritten word "INCOMPARABLE", simulating some early PR showcasing the unit. It really *was* incomparable at the time. We might not be e-mailing one another screenshots illustrating our petty peeves without that humble machine.

You can see a pic faithful to the one I took if you go to: http://americanhistory.si.edu/brc/4f4.htm

It's identical right down to the funky angle brackets and drilled cable holes. This site is associated with the Smith so I first thought it was the same one that I saw, but there's a difference in the appearance of the device. Inexplicably, *this* Apple has some additional carving at the rear of the horizontal panel. If anyone's familiar with this machine, can anyone tell me what the additional inscription says?

 

[topicolo]

Lol. I read this thread expecting something completely different

 

[SilentPanda]

Here's a pic I took of it when I was there this past February....

 

[Capt Underpants]

It says incompatible, not incomparable. I may be wrong, because im just judging by your picture.

 

[stoid]

Well, there certainly is a big difference between incomparable and incompatible. Maybe that's why people think that the Mac is so incompatible, it says so at the Smithsonian!

 

[SilentPanda]

I'm not actually sure that the word "Incompatible" was referring to the computer itself. There was a lot of other stuff on the chalkboard. The picture I posted was cropped (no sense in showing anything else) but in the uncropped picture there are more words although the only one I can actually make out is "disk drive".

 

[Macmaniac]

I saw that Apple I it is pretty cool, I wish you could see the ancient innards, it is really amazing how far we have come.

 

[mkrishnan]

Lol. I read this thread expecting something completely different

ROTFLMAO!!!

Is that an iPod in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

 

[Spock]

I saw that Apple I it is pretty cool, I wish you could see the ancient innards, it is really amazing how far we have come.

Really Far

 

[brhmac]

Anyone know the specs?

Anyone know the specs?

 

[jimsowden]

Anyone know the specs?

CPU: MOS Technology 6502


CPU Speed: 1 MHz


FPU: none


Bus Speed: 1 MHz


Data Path: 8 bit


Onboard RAM: 8 kB


Maximum RAM: 32 kB


VRAM: 1 kB


Maximum Resolution: 60.05 Hz, 40x24 char


Power: 58 Watts


Introduced: April 1976


Terminated: 1977

 

[Capt Underpants]

CPU: MOS Technology 6502

Is this where macrumors gets their ranking system?

 

[RandomDeadHead]

If they could have a fsb that is equal to the speed of the processor back then, why cant moto get a fsb to go faster then 167 on a 1.5 ghz g4?

 

[Spock]

Is this where macrumors gets their ranking system?

Yes it is. I would love to play with one of these. I seen one on eBay a long time ago for like $25,000

 

[kiwi_the_iwik]

I took my son to the Science Museum in London a few weeks' back - and, lo-and-behold! To my surprise, I saw an Apple I in its wooden box. AND, the lid was off, to show the innards!

Pretty cool...

 

[Golem]

Their is one at Apple Australia with just the guts no box. In a glass case of course